Members of the Presidential Climate Commission have repeatedly pointed out that the many mistakes in the project to decommission the Komati Power Station should never have been made. These are some of the impacts of the project and lessons to be learnt.

'They started to engage us after they shut the power plant down; that's when they came into the community. Before that, we never had a proper conversation with them. Everything moves without us knowing. We hear things from journalists, and then after that they tell us politicians are coming, etc. But the community is left in the dark. Even myself, I don't properly understand the just transition," said Carlos Vilankulu, a community leader in Komati.

Only two years after the Komati Power Station in Mpumalanga was decommissioned did Eskom begin community consultations, Vilankulu told Daily Maverick. He was subcontracted as a welder at the power utility before being laid off in 2018. The community leader said he was hearing in the news about what was happening regarding the Just Energy Transition (JET) and that he and his community had been left in the dark. He says they continue to be left in the dark about the intricate details of the transition.

Members of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) have repeatedly pointed out that there were many mistakes made in decommissioning the power station that should never have been made. At a workshop run by the commission recently, on mobilising finance...