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The document argues that land is a strategic public resource central to South Africa's just transition, rather than merely a financial asset. It outlines how municipalities can use spatial planning, inclusive governance, and tenure protection to balance the land-intensive needs of renewable energy and climate adaptation with the need to redress historical spatial inequalities. The guide identifies significant municipal constraints, including dire finances, lack of consolidated land information, and complex overlaps with traditional authorities, while offering a roadmap for advancing distributive, restorative, and procedural justice through land administration.

The report argues that traditional top-down consultations for South Africa's just energy transition (JET) often exclude marginalized groups and fail to address local realities. By applying ethnographic research and a co-production pilot in Mpumalanga, the study identifies critical gaps in information, trust, and service delivery following the closure of the Komati Power Station. It recommends institutionalizing co-production and ethnographic methods to ensure that women, youth, and informal workers are meaningfully included in policy design.

The document argues that the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in South Africa's Steve Tshwete Local Municipality (STLM) is 'unjust' for youth due to their exclusion from meaningful employment and productive assets. It highlights how the closure of the Komati Power Station has devastated local livelihoods and how current municipal land disposal conditions effectively bar unemployed youth from ownership. Furthermore, it notes that renewable energy projects, such as solar installations in Doornkop, provide only short-term, low-skill work that fails to create sustainable career paths for young people.

The document analyzes South Africa's transition from a coal-dependent economy, highlighting the tension between transformative visions of social justice and narrower, market-based decarbonization efforts. It identifies significant challenges, including high regional economic dependence in Mpumalanga, a massive funding gap for the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP), and institutional failures such as state capture and fragmented governance. The report examines the divergent perspectives of trade unions, national and local governments, state-owned utility Eskom, and civil society, while emphasizing the need for procedural justice and bottom-up engagement to ensure the transition does not entrench existing inequalities.

The research paper defines a 'transition effective state' as one capable of identifying and solving community-priority problems through co-production—a collaborative process where affected citizens are active partners in policy design. Evaluating South Africa's Just Energy Transition (JET), the authors find that current state capabilities are low because the government relies on 'tick-box' public participation and 'isomorphic mimicry' of international best practices rather than locally-driven solutions. Fieldwork in Mpumalanga reveals critical policy gaps, including the invisibility of the informal coal value-chain, the loss of community services provided by Eskom and mines, and water scarcity. The paper concludes that rigid budgeting and entrenched administrative habits hinder progress, recommending the development of detailed co-production guidelines and pilot projects focusing on water and community asset management.

The research paper assesses the capacity of the South African state to implement a just energy transition (JET), concluding that current state capacity is low due to a reliance on top-down, 'tick-box' public participation rather than genuine co-production. It defines a 'transition effective state' as one capable of identifying and solving community-priority problems through collaborative, context-specific processes. Fieldwork in Mpumalanga reveals that critical issues—such as the informal economy's dependence on coal, water rights, and the loss of corporate social investment services—remain invisible in national policies. The author recommends developing detailed guidelines for co-production and applying them to specific gaps in the JET framework to build legitimacy and ensure social equity.

The South African Renewable Energy Master Plan (SAREM) aims to industrialise the renewable energy value chain to drive economic recovery and a just energy transition. The plan identifies market certainty as the most critical factor for attracting manufacturing investment, proposing a shift from a percentage-of-CAPEX local content model to a points-based scoring system in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Key targets for 2030 include an annual GDP contribution of R141-164 billion, the creation of 32,500-35,000 new jobs, and achieving 70-90% localisation of key components. The strategy emphasizes integrating industrial opportunities into 'Just Transition hotspots' like Mpumalanga to reskill coal sector workers and diversifying procurement through private sector engagement and export promotion to regional markets, particularly within Africa via the AfCFTA.

The Nkangala District Municipality Air Quality Management Plan assesses air quality across six local municipalities, identifying significant pollution from industrial point sources, domestic fuel burning, and mining. It details ambient air quality exceedances for PM10, SO2, and NOx, identifies specific 'hot spots' such as eMalahleni and Middelburg, and outlines a comprehensive implementation plan to improve government capacity and reduce emissions by 2020.

This document consists of a formal letter and a variation of the Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) issued by the Nkangala District Municipality to Eskom Holdings SOC Limited for the Arnot Power Station. The letter, dated 20 April 2015, addresses Eskom's request to correct errors in the AEL, while the attached licence specifies the operational conditions, emission limits, and reporting requirements for the power station's activities.

This document is an Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) issued by the Nkangala District Municipality to Eskom Holdings SOC Limited for the Hendrina Power Station. The licence, varied on 31 March 2016, sets out the legal conditions, emission limits, and monitoring requirements for the station's operations under the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004.

This document is a variation of an Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) issued by the Nkangala District Municipality to Eskom Holdings SOC Limited for the Hendrina Power Station. The licence, valid until 31 March 2019, regulates emissions from listed activities including solid fuel combustion, storage of liquid petroleum products, and handling of coal.

This document is an Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) issued by the Nkangala District Municipality to Eskom Holdings SOC Limited for the Komati Power Station. The licence, varied on 31 March 2016 following an appeal, sets specific emission limits for particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mandates the implementation of an Atmospheric Emission Off-Set Plan to reduce PM pollution.

This document is an Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) variation issued by the Nkangala District Municipality to Eskom Holdings SOC Limited for the Komati Power Station. The licence, valid until 31 March 2019, regulates emissions from electricity generation activities, specifying maximum release rates for pollutants, monitoring requirements, and mitigation measures for fugitive emissions.

This document is a variation of an Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL) issued on 31 March 2015 by the Nkangala District Municipality to Eskom Holdings SOC Limited for the Komati Power Station. The licence, valid until 31 March 2019, regulates emissions from listed activities including solid fuel combustion, petroleum storage, and coal handling, while setting specific emission limits and monitoring requirements for particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx).