Slowing down a moving train: the DMRE’s response to South Africa’s just energy transition

The DMRE has slowed South Africa's just energy transition due to an institutional self-perception as a protector against 'imperialist' Western impositions and a desire to protect the livelihoods of miners and emerging black mining industrialists. The document highlights internal contradictions, such as the DMRE managing environmental regulations for the same mining activities it licenses, and a lack of transparency regarding mine closure plans. It recommends utilizing existing policy tools like the Integrated Resource Plan, increasing accountability, and acknowledges the recent split of the DMRE into the Department of Mineral Resources and Petroleum (DMRP) and the Department of Electricity and Energy (DEE) as a necessary step to resolve conflicts of interest.

• The DMRE has resisted the just energy transition (JET) because it views the process as a Western imposition of values and ideals on a nation that has not yet fully leveraged fossil fuels for economic growth.
• The department's reluctance to support the transition is partly driven by the need to protect the economic interests of miners and emerging black mining industrialists who have invested in mining equipment and have not yet seen profits.
• A significant conflict of interest exists because the DMRE is responsible for both licensing mining activities and overseeing their environmental management since the introduction of the One Environmental System in 2014.
• The DMRE has failed to fully implement the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA), specifically regarding the collection and transparency of environmental management plans for mine closures.
• There is a lack of policy coordination and technical alignment between the DMRE and the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), with the PCC performing technical work that falls under the DMRE's mandate.
• The DMRE has underutilised the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) as a tool for defining its policy position on the JET, characterized by irregular updates and a lack of transparency in energy mix calculations.
• Institutional instability caused by the department splitting in 2009 and merging in 2018 led to a loss of critical skills and degraded information infrastructure.

APA

T., C.-B. (2024). Slowing down a moving train: the DMRE’s response to South Africa’s just energy transition. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241211_DMREPolicyBrief_ChilengButao.pdf

Chicago

T., Chilenga-Butao,. Slowing down a moving train: the DMRE’s response to South Africa’s just energy transition. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2024. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241211_DMREPolicyBrief_ChilengButao.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=T. |first1=Chilenga-Butao, |title=Slowing down a moving train: the DMRE’s response to South Africa’s just energy transition |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=December 2024 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241211_DMREPolicyBrief_ChilengButao.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{t2024slowing, author = {T., Chilenga-Butao,}, title = {{Slowing down a moving train: the DMRE’s response to South Africa’s just energy transition}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241211_DMREPolicyBrief_ChilengButao.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }