Mudzulatshidzulo, ndi a livhuwa Vho Matibe, ri khou lingedza nga n?ila dzo?he uri ri vhee Eskom madzuloni avhu?i uri i kone u bvela phan?a u ita mushumo wa n?isedzo ya mu?agasi Afurika Tshipembe lo?he na kha mashango o fhambanaho Tshipembe ha Afurika. Ri khou lingedza u i tikedza, ri vhone uri na vhashumi vho takala.
English:
As I was saying about the issue of the just transition that we are looking at and as we now know I think it has become much more clearer also to a number of working people as well that as these power station age, and as it happens all over the world, they are built to last a number of years. The problem is that the older they become the more expensive to run they become and the breakages become even more frequent and you spend much more money to keep them going. They come to a point where their lives come to a dead end.
In answering your question, what we need to do is to collectively define what just transition is. This is a conservation that we say should be embarked on. We need to define what just transition is. Just transition is a buzz word around the world and we are saying let us define what just transition is. It has to have key elements. These elements have to be the socioeconomic future of the places
where those power stations are. Quite a number of them have become towns. What is the socioeconomic future for them? We need to plan around that but in an inclusive way. We also need to look at what happens to be workers who have been working in those power stations. Are we going to re-skill or up skill them and are we going to open up new opportunities for them. Are we going to look to all those areas as new centres where renewable can actually be developed? And if there are, what ways are we going to embark on to re-skill those workers so that they could immediately migrate.
Other countries have done so successfully. They have been able to create more jobs where coal fired or fossil fuel power stations have closed down and new sources of energies have come up. More jobs have been created. It is a difficult task and it's not going to be easy and that is what we need to say to our people. What we are saying is that all of must embark on a process to define what just transition is and to work towards that transition.
I am one who is strong in ensuring that we should never get to appoint where we have not spent time in defining what just transition is, and what that just transition will be in terms of taking care of the ordinary people who work in our power stations and who work in the towns that were created around those power
stations in the eventuality that those power stations would be closed. Thank you, Chairperson.
IsiZulu: