South Africa: Coal's Slow Death in Mpumalanga

By Marcia Moyana & Thabo Molelekwa

Steve Tshwete Local Municipality in Middelburg used to be one of South Africa's top municipalities, boasting an average 95% rates collection.

Now it is bleeding revenue as Mpumalanga's coal sector contracts, and is struggling to pay its own service providers within the mandated 30 days.

The municipality's chief financial officer, Puselletso Milato, said as retrenchments accelerate and coal-related activity slows, the effects are showing up in falling rates payments and growing arrears.

In November 2025 residents owed the municipality more than R604-million - a fall of more than R200-million in just one year.

Applications for indigent support have also increased, with 889 applicants qualifying between September 2024 and December 2025, Milato said. Once sustained by mining-linked jobs, electricity sales and industry rates, the municipality is now struggling to collect payments as retrenchments ripple through households and businesses.

The growing financial strain on one of Mpumalanga's most coal-dependent economic hubs offers an early warning of how coal-dependent towns across the province may be affected by South Africa's energy transition.

Five coal-fired power plants and 15 coal mines are expected to close by 2030, and another four plants and 23 mines by 2040.

This will impact the livelihoods of 2.5-million people, most of them in Mpumalanga, according to 2024 research by the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

This story was produced by Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism and shared with Scrolla.Africa as part of a content partnership. Read the full investigation here.

Read the original article on Scrolla.

Copyright © 2026 Scrolla. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.