The just transition cannot become another chapter in South Africa’s long history of missed opportunities
South Africa has pledged to build a fair, inclusive and climate-resilient economy. The creation of the Presidential Climate Commission was an acknowledgment that we cannot decarbonise irresponsibly, nor leave anyone behind — least of all the workers, communities and women who hold up this economy every day.
The Just Transition Framework was meant to be our collective pact — a pathway to a better future rooted in procedural, distributive and restorative justice.
But promises are only as strong as the actions that follow. If urgency gives way to delay, we risk locking ourselves into high-carbon infrastructure, losing global competitiveness and missing the wave of green industrial opportunities. Inaction will deepen inequality, entrench unemployment and expose the country to worsening climate shocks and economic instability.
To understand what this means in human terms, meet Naledi.
In 2023, Naledi was a 10-year-old in Seshego, just outside Polokwane in Limpopo. She first heard terms like just transition, green jobs and climate resilience on the radio and at community meetings. Leaders painted pictures of women in overalls installing solar panels, of bustling new industries, of communities freed from energy poverty. Like many young girls, Naledi believed she could one day take her place in that world.
Fast forward to 2035. Naledi is 22 — and the future she was promised never arrived. She wakes in the dark to load-shedding that is now a permanent fixture. The family fridge hasn’t worked in months. Water comes only every few days. The clinic often closes due to power cuts. Her mother cooks over paraffin. Her grandmother’s insulin is stored at a neighbour’s house — when that neighbour has electricity.
Under a business-as-usual energy transition, the promises of 2023 have evaporated. Our coal plants aged out without adequate replacements. Renewable procurement became mired in legal disputes, bureaucratic paralysis and political infighting. Grid upgrades never materialised. Load-shedding worsened. Investment stalled. And it was women — always the shock absorbers of social crises — who bore the brunt.
Naledi had enrolled in a government solar technician training programme. She excelled. But when the course ended, job placements never came. A cabinet reshuffle led to departmental restructuring. Budgets were frozen. Policy documents were redrafted. For the young women who saw this as a gateway to the new economy, the door slammed shut.
Still, Naledi hustles. She assists her uncle fixing solar geysers in nearby suburbs. She dreams of starting a cooperative — but the municipal small-business office hasn’t processed grant applications in over a year. The online portal doesn’t work. And the pledge to “support women in the transition” remains trapped in draft strategies and speeches.
Her story is not an isolated tragedy — it is a warning. Studies show that with steady growth of 3% to 4%, employment can rise even under tight climate constraints. But without deliberate distributional policies, the most vulnerable — women, youth and workers of colour — will be left behind. These groups often have fewer skills, weaker networks and less access to capital.
Distributional justice isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s the foundation of a just transition. If the transition fails women, it fails entirely.
So what must change?
- Targeted skills programmes for women in renewable energy, efficiency and green entrepreneurship — designed with childcare, transport and flexible schedules in mind;
- Gender-responsive procurement rules that give women-owned businesses real access to energy contracts and public tenders;
- Subsidised energy access for women-headed households to cut the cost, time and health burdens of energy poverty;
- Dedicated finance — low-interest loans, grants and blended capital — for women-led climate businesses and cooperatives;
- Equity targets in hiring for public and private sector energy projects;
- Social protection for women displaced by the shift away from fossil fuels, recognising the unpaid and informal work they have always shouldered; and
- Community ownership models that give women a direct stake in the energy systems shaping their lives.
Naledi’s reality is not the result of personal failure — it is the product of systemic betrayal. Plans were drafted but never implemented. Opportunities were lost, not for lack of talent or will but due to governance delays, political fragmentation and institutional incapacity.
And yet, Naledi persists. She still dreams — not just for herself, but for her sisters, her peers and her neighbours.
Our responsibility is to ensure the next generation doesn’t have to fight this hard just to be seen. The just transition cannot become another chapter in South Africa’s long history of missed opportunities. It must be the moment we choose to do things differently — to build a future that is not only green, but fair, feminist and truly just.
Lebogang Mulaisi is the executive manager responsible for policy and research in the Presidential Climate Commission. She is also a 2022 Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans winner.