DMRE comes under fire from just energy transition
Protests will kick off tomorrow aimed at reforming South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE).
Uproot the DMRE
#UprootTheDMRE
Hundreds of people representing dozens of civil society organisations marched to Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) offices, in every province across the country, under the banner #UprootTheDMRE.
Instead of responding to the demands or engaging in public debate, Minister Mantashe chose to try and repress the secretary of the Climate Justice Coalition - the coalition that organised the march. Please help us call out Minister Mantashe and the DMRE:
#ThePeoplesTribunal
On the 25 March, 2022 the Climate Justice Coalition held a People's Tribunal, placing the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on trial for the harm and destruction that's resulted from the departments failure to transform and prioritise a sustainable energy system for South Africa. During #ThePeopleTribunal, community representatives and activists from across South Africa testified to how the DMRE’s actions are hurting communities, workers, our economy, and the environment.
#Open letter
We, as civil society organisations, wrote this open letter to denounce Minister Mantashe and the DMRE’s increasingly unjust, undemocratic, and autocratic practices in defence of a heavily polluting, corruption-laden, and extremely harmful energy and mining agenda.
We now need your help to get the DMRE to respond to our list of demands. Can you send them an email?
We have a draft email ready for you to send.😊 All you have to do is to click on any of the provinces below to email the DMRE regional manager in that province (you will be able to tweak the email if you want to):
| Eastern Cape | Free State | Gauteng |
|---|---|---|
| KwaZulu-Natal | Limpopo | Mpumalanga |
| North West | Northern Cape | Western Cape |
Phone The DMRE
We set out a clear list of demands around transforming our archaic and harmful mining and energy sector to ensure a more socially, economically and environmentally just future. But the DMRE has yet to respond.
Can you now phone the DMRE regional manager in your province to ask them to respond to the list of demands?. Click on your province below to see the phone number:
Twitterstorm
Click any of the links below to Tweet right away — or write your own and include any of the graphics below.
We are calling on @DMRE_ZA to show real support for our planet! 🛑 STOP THE COAL PROJECTS 🛑 Help us take action! Send them an email today! https://uprootthedmre.org/ #UprootTheDMRE #StepAsideMantashe #GreenNewEskom @GwedeMantashe1
In September, we called on the @DMRE_ZA to show us their commitment to a just energy future. We haven’t heard a word from them! 🙄 Help us push for change! Send them this/ your own email 👉 https://uprootthedmre.org/ #UprootTheDMRE #StepAsideMantashe #GreenNewEskom @GwedeMantashe1
We cannot achieve the vision for a #GreenNewEskom if we don’t #UprootTheDMRE #StepAsideMantashe. Help us get answers from @DMRE_ZA and @GwedeMantashe1! Send this email today. 👉 https://uprootthedmre.org/
It’s time for the @DMRE_ZA to give us a solid plan for a renewable energy future! Join the action to secure #SouthAfrica’s future https://uprootthedmre.org/ #UprootTheDMRE #GreenNewEskom #StepAsideMantashe
GRAPHICS TO SHARE
Why
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is blocking the flow of energy into our democracy. They are ignoring the voices of those most impacted by energy planning decisions, leaving many without access to basic electricity and approving polluting projects while our just transition to renewable energy languishes on Mantashe’s desk. Climate justice and our shared energy future demand action.
Listen and share widely
Podcast: Just Us and the Climate
Want to learn more about what a just recovery looks like? Join members of the Climate Justice Coalition and the Institute of Economic Justice as they discuss what a just recovery looks like for South Africa. Stay tuned for the upcoming episode capturing the voices of activists and local communities from #ThePeoplesTribunal
Who
This mobilisation is a collaborative effort by:
African Climate Alliance (ACA), Bathalbine Foundation, Botshabelo Unemplyed Movement, Climate Justice Coalition (CJC), Green Connection, GroundWork, Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), Nu Climate Vision, Oceans Not Oil, Project90 by 2030, Sekhukhune Environmental Justice Network, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), South African Green Revolutionary Council, Support Centre for Land Change and 350Africa.org.
And supported by:
Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC), Collective Movement, Extinction Rebellion (XR), Eastern Cape Enivornmental Network, Fossil Free South Africa, General Industrial Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA), Greenpeace Africa, Newcastle Environmental Justice Alliance (NEJA), OTT (Orlando Task Team), SAFCEI, Soweto Sukuma Sinqobe, Thembelihle Crisis commitee, United Front, United Front, Women Affected by Mining United in Action (WAMUA)
Latest updates
‘Dead bodies’ raise awareness of the DRME’s continued support for fossil fuels
Cape Town – Ahead of the global climate strike organised by the Climate Justice Coalition (CJC) this week, a demonstration was held on Wednesday outside the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE) Cape Town offices where employees and passers-by came face-to-face with what appeared to be a gruesome crime scene with dead bodies laying in front.
Display of ‘dead bodies’ outside DMRE offices raise awareness about fossil fuels
Extinction Rebellion Cape Town along with partner organisations from the Climate Justice Charter Coalition staged a Climate Crime Scene outside the local offices of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on Wednesday.
Gwede must go! Activists voice demands on renewable energy and community consent in mining
Members of mining-affected communities and organisations combating the climate crisis have chained themselves to the gates of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in Tshwane, demanding the implementation of policies on renewable energy and Minister Gwede Mantashe’s resignation.
SABC News: Calls for Energy Department to scrap plans to build new coal-fired power plants
The Department of Minerals and Energy has been given until the 8th of October to respond to demands by the Climate Justice Coalition to scrap plans to build new coal-fired power plants. And to rather use clean, safe, affordable renewable energy. This will help fast-track Eskom’s transition to renewable. They are also demanding answers to Nersa’s approval of three-generation licences for floating power ship provider Karpowership and for government officials of the department to be investigated for irregular deals.
It’s time to uproot our archaic energy and mining regime
In the past couple of years, SA has lived through some of its worst load-shedding. The estimated economic cost has been in the hundreds of billions of rands, and we will have to face more years of it, due to government inaction to resolve the crisis.
Civil society groups call for an urgent just transition and a transformed energy department
Different voices under the Climate Justice Coalition expressed frustration, saying that they have had it with an energy department that is not addressing their community and climate crisis concerns, and are calling for the minister to step down.
WATCH: Hilarious new advert wants to sell South Africa
A new advert wants to sell South Africa to the highest bidder.
Coalition plans marches in pursuit of a just transition
Youth leaders, civil society groups, trade unions and grassroots movements under the Climate Justice Coalition have expressed dissatisfaction with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and will, as a result, hold planned nationwide marches, it said on September 15.
SA’s climate crisis is embedded in coal and exports
The New Frame, New Economy forum on minerals and the climate looks at how South Africa exhibits an extreme form of the global crisis because of its minerals-energy complex.