{
  "id": 17109797,
  "title": "From ballot box to Just Energy Transition — participation without power",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/from-ballot-box-to-just-energy-transition-participation-without-power",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-29T19:34:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daily Maverick",
    "slug": "daily-maverick",
    "url": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-10-29-from-ballot-box-to-just-energy-transition-participation-without-power/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "South Africa's Just Energy Transition is exhibiting a familiar democratic contradiction: communities are repeatedly invited to participate in the decision-making process, while the power to shape their future remains in the hands of others. Christopher Rutledge, executive director of the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) and Women Affected by Mining United in Action (Wamua) Advice Office, highlights how the nation's understanding of democracy is increasingly conflating participation with power. Meetings are convened, stakeholders identified, and consultations facilitated, but the critical questions of who makes the decisions, who controls the resources, and who benefits remain unanswered.\n\nThis paradox exists within South Africa's political system, where citizens are invited to vote for representatives every five years, while being called upon for public hearings and consultations between elections, yet often having little practical authority over decisions impacting their lives. The Just Energy Transition is reproducing this model, with the rhetoric of inclusion, participation, and social justice forming the foundation of a growing institutional apparatus that may unintentionally perpetuate the very power imbalances the transition is meant to address.\n\nThe Just Transition's democratic model has confused participation with power, reflecting the same democratic performance that is prevalent in South Africa's political system. The liberation struggle's vision of democracy, where people govern themselves, is no longer aligned with the current reality. Street committees, area committees, and civic structures that emerged during the struggle have faded, replaced by a focus on procedures rather than the distribution of power.\n\nAs South Africa prepares for the November municipal elections, declining participation could signal a deeper democratic deficit. Voter turnout has decreased from 57.97% in 2016 to 45.86% in 2021, raising questions about the value citizens place in a system that promises participation while remaining disconnected from their lives. The Just Energy Transition is compounding this issue by celebrating participation as evidence of inclusion while leaving the concentration of political and economic power largely untouched.\n\nA recent report, Green Power, Old Inequality, explores how the renewable energy transition reproduces the economic exclusion and concentrated power that have characterized South Africa's mineral economy. The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) established to oversee the inclusive transition emphasizes procedural, distributive, and restorative justice, yet its advisory and convening role leaves communities with no real decision-making authority over the economic arrangements determining their future. Corporations, financiers, and government institutions can negotiate key aspects of renewable energy projects before communities are even notified, leaving little room for meaningful negotiation.\n\nCommunities are invited to participate in renewable energy developments only after economic and political power has largely determined their future. Consultations then become a mechanism to legitimize decisions already made. While renewable energy projects may reduce emissions and be marketed as a Just Energy Transition project, they continue to reproduce the same relationships of power observed in the colonial apartheid extractive economy. The technology may change, but the power dynamics persist.",
  "summary": "South Africa’s Just Energy Transition is reproducing a familiar democratic contradiction: communities are repeatedly invited to participate, while the power to determine their futures remains firmly in the hands of others.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}