Transitions: The Role of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa’s Just Energy Transition

This report by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) examines the role of South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) in the country's Just Energy Transition (JET). It argues that the DMRE has exhibited significant reluctance to lead the transition, driven by institutional 'stickiness', conflicts of interest between its minerals and energy mandates, and a perception of the JET as a Western imposition. The report highlights a lack of policy articulation, poor stakeholder engagement, and capacity constraints resulting from repeated organisational restructuring and the legacy of state capture. It concludes by welcoming the recent split of the DMRE into two separate departments—Mineral and Petroleum Resources, and Electricity and Energy—as a necessary step to resolve these conflicts and improve policy focus.

• The DMRE has shown significant reluctance to lead South Africa's Just Energy Transition (JET), failing to provide a clear articulation of its strategic position or role in the process.
• There is a deep-seated perception within the DMRE that the JET is an external ideological and financial imposition from Western countries and donors, rather than a domestic necessity.
• The DMRE has failed to use the Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) process effectively to communicate its energy mix position or engage stakeholders, with critics noting that the IRP is not updated regularly and lacks transparency in its modelling assumptions.
• The department has missed critical opportunities to build institutional memory for the JET by failing to develop strategic policies for the transition of labour and communities during previous mine and power plant closures.
• The DMRE is described as a 'closed institution' characterized by an 'information blackout,' where it is inaccessible to civil society and mining communities and often sends irrelevant or junior staff to public engagements.
• A fundamental conflict of interest existed within the DMRE because it was tasked with both promoting the coal mining industry and overseeing the transition to decarbonized energy.
• The DMRE's capacity has been severely undermined by repeated organisational restructuring (demergers and remergers), the 'juniorisation' of staff in critical positions, and the lingering effects of state capture.
• The DMRE has failed to properly monitor and enforce environmental rehabilitation of abandoned and closed mines, often refusing to provide environmental management plans to affected communities and NGOs.
• The report argues that the DMRE's resistance to the JET is linked to its role as a custodian of the 'minerals-energy complex' (MEC) and its desire to protect the interests of both legacy mining conglomerates and emerging black mining industrialists.
• The recent decision to split the DMRE into the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) and the Department of Electricity and Energy is welcomed as a way to resolve the inherent conflicts between the minerals and energy sectors.

APA

Chilenga-Butao, T., & Holland, W. (2024). Transitions: The Role of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PARI_Transitions_Report_Jul24_WEB.pdf

Chicago

Chilenga-Butao, Thokozani, and Waseem Holland. Transitions: The Role of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2024. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PARI_Transitions_Report_Jul24_WEB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chilenga-Butao |first1=Thokozani |last2=Holland |first2=Waseem |title=Transitions: The Role of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa’s Just Energy Transition |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=July 2024 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PARI_Transitions_Report_Jul24_WEB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chilengabutao2024transitions, author = {Chilenga-Butao, Thokozani and Holland, Waseem}, title = {{Transitions: The Role of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa’s Just Energy Transition}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2024}, month = jul, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PARI_Transitions_Report_Jul24_WEB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }