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After he “snubbed” a $1 billion green hydrogen agreement made in collaboration with the Netherlands and Denmark on Sunday, South Africa’s energy minister was accused of neglecting to support the country’s energy transition.
The fund was approved and established on Tuesday despite claims from the largest opposition party in the nation that energy minister Gwede Mantashe had not signed an agreement.
With planned outages lasting up to 12 hours a day in South Africa, the country is experiencing a power crisis, which has reignited the conversation about switching to cleaner energy.
The administration, which has a long history of receiving backing from labour organisations that represent mining workers, has been embroiled in internal conflict during the transition.
Mantashe allegedly stated that he “refused” to sign a memorandum of understanding on the agreement, according to South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper.
It was deemed “unacceptable” by the opposition Democratic Alliance, which demanded the minister be fired.
Mantashe’s recent choice to skip the high-level meeting with European leaders to introduce a green energy programme supported by Europe, according to the party, is extremely troubling.
It continued, accusing Mantashe of “hindering the much-needed rapid and just energy transition,” saying, “We cannot afford a recalcitrant and ideologically compromised minister at the helm of the energy portfolio.”
Mantashe declined an invitation to the deal’s announcement at a business forum in Pretoria in favour of attending a different energy summit organised by a significant trade union organisation.
The spokesperson for the energy ministry, Nathi Shabangu, insisted to AFP that the minister’s absence did not indicate that he disagreed with the agreement, stating that he simply chose not to sign “because he had not seen the MOU” and could not sign on something he had not seen.
The president’s office stated earlier this week that the blended finance fund will “accelerate the development of a green hydrogen sector and circular economy.”
Mantashe has already been outspoken in his support for the coal lobby. Last year, he claimed that the country would suffer economic harm and employment losses if it abandoned coal too rapidly.
Since 2021, South Africa, one of the top 12 carbon emitters in the world, has gotten billions of dollars in international loans and grants to help with the transition to a green economy.
The coal-rich but energy-scarce nation relies on 15 outdated coal-fired power facilities to produce around 80% of its electricity.
