Just Transition in Kwanele South, Kwanele Extension and Kwanele Proper in Katlehong THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS PUBLICATION DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL POSITIONS OF GENDERCC SA - WOMEN FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE. JUST TRANSITION FROM A COMMUNITY’S PERSPECTIVE (Climate Change, Socio-Economic issues, Service Delivery, Intersectionality & Just Transition) CONTRIBUTORS: Ndivile Mokoena, Neo Tsotetsi Siphumelele Luncheon Community project, Kwanele Community Youth Project, Kwanele Primary Community School and Tlakale Somo (Selz Visions). EDITED BY: Neo Tsotetsi PUBLISHED: MARCH 2023 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface: Kwanele Community Youth Group message: Siphumelele Luncheon Womens Club message: History of Katlehong: Gender CC SA Just Transition Interventions: - Just Transition Capacity Building Outcomes - Door to Door Survey - Biogas Digester Installation at the Community School Recommendations: 1 4 6 8 13 15 16 17 1 PREFACE Informing and influencing strategic advocacy spaces on the key elements of a gender-just and community led transition to renewable energy, regenerative farming systems, circular economy, and resilient communities. Supporting women and community-led regenerative farming and biogas digesters to generate natural gas The South African government is currently engaging various stakeholders on the Just Transition Framework as the country is preparing for a transition to a low carbon economy. The focus is mainly on energy transition which is a major sector contributing to emissions through burning of fossil fuels and heavy reliance on non-renewable energy. The government established the Presidential Climate Commission tasked with managing the Just Transition in the country. While the discussion of just transition originated in the energy and extractive sectors, energy use lies at the basis of our food systems, public services, transportation and production and distribution system, transforming the way we use and think about energy requires deep transformations in every sector. As the world is trying to deal with the impacts of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions resulting mainly from carbon intensive industries, it is a responsibility of every one of us to understand the meaning of this process and the human needs involved, the negative and positive outcomes and work together for an inclusive, intersectional, equitable,gender-sensitive and sustainable outcome for all. GenderCC Southern Africa – Women for Climate Justice, together with Community Based Women’s Organizations, namely Bongkono Community Project based in Driezik 1, Orange Farm and Siphumelele Luncheon Club based in Kwanele,Katlehong, embarked on local interventions in the peri-urban areas where these projects are located. This emanated from the fact that the Presidential Climate Commission’s focus is on so called “Hot Spot” areas, where there is increased exposure to pollution from surrounding industry for the communities. “ “ 2 The objective of this collaborative project is to raise awareness to these communities (especially youth and women) through education and information sharing by conducting capacity building workshops, focused group discussions, research, and peer-to-peer learning through exchange visits to come up with community-led just transition perspectives to contribute to the national process. The impacts of climate change are felt immediately at the local level - affecting communities, settlements, farmers, and infrastructure. Just transition which refers to the transformation of economies and societies towards environmental sustainability, decarbonization, climate change adaptation, eradication of poverty, decent work, social inclusion, justice, and equity - therefore requires a comprehensive approach rather than siloed interventions where there are likely to be winners and losers. Key words for gender just and community led energy transition are: INCLUSIVE – Everyone must be involved JUST – It must be fair to everyone EQUITABLE – People must be treated equally – nobody must be left behind. The 193 countries of the United Nations (which South Africa is a member) have set these goals for affordable clean energy: - Universal access to modern energy - Increase the global percentage of renewable energy - Double the improvement in energy efficiency - Promote access to research, technology, and investment in clean energy - Expand and upgrade energy services for developing countries. 3 This advocacy booklet will be used by activists and ordinary citizens in the areas concerned for the changes they want to see in their communities and will be presented to the Presidential Climate Commissioners. The project gratefully acknowledges the support by Medico, Germany, and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, JHB for funding the work undertaken. The Reamohetsoe Primary School in Orange Farm and Kwanele Primary School in Katlehong opened their doors for us to install Biogas Digesters at their schools to help the school’s feeding scheme, demonstrating a clean, safe, and cost-effective source of energy for cooking. We are equally grateful to the inputs of youth in these communities (Driezik 1 Youth and Kwanele Youth Groups), Bonkgono project, Siphumelele Luncheon Club and Principals and teachers from both schools. 4 KWANELE COMMUNITY YOUTH GROUP MESSAGE: The youth group emerged after the Siphumelele Luncheon Club (a women’s group led and organized for the elderly) hosted two work- shops in our community. The work- shops were conducted by Gender- CC SA – Women for Climate Justice focused on Just Transition at local level. After the two workshops, our eyes were opened to what is happening around us and to environmental issues and knowledge. We started identifying environmental matters in our area and what is just transition from a local community perspective. Some of the issues identified needed the attention of the local councillor, (who is so difficult to get hold of) like, building a bridge across the river in the area for community and children’s safety who are crossing the river when going to school. Addressing the dysfunctional storm water drainage system and providing big steel bins to the community for waste. We cleaned several open spaces where people were dumping waste and we want to start community food gardens there, but it is difficult because we need the approval of the councillor since we do not know to whom the vacant spaces belong to. The highlight for us was the peer learning exchange visits between us and the youth group from Driezik 1 in Orange Farm. We learned a lot from each other during the exchange visits, they motivated andin- spired us, we shared successes,challenges, opportunities, and solutions to our common and different issues. 5 The biogas digester installation and training we attended was another valuable experience and knowledge gained during this initiative. We are still highly involved in the feeding and maintenance of the biogas digester; we are happy with this initiative as it is of great help to the school’s feeding scheme and the community at large. We are also using the slurry from the digester as a fertilizer for the food garden in the school started by the elderly group and we are now involved to help them in the garden. We are looking forward to starting to sell the surplus of the slurry (organic liquid fertilizer) to the public and raising funds for both groups (elderly and the youth). Our vision for the future is to organize unemployed and employed youth, if they have time and interest, to fight against drug abuse which will minimize crime and environmental degradation in our community. One of us has been to the rehabilitation centre after discovering that there is more to life than drugs, this was inspired by attending the two workshops conducted by GenderCC SA, he is clean and we are hoping that he will inspire other youth to get off drugs, however we need to find something that will keep them get busy as most of them get hooked into drugs because of idle lives. We are inspired by the activities we have already started as we would like to see changes in our community and be part of the just transition taking place in the country. 6 Siphumelele Luncheon Club has a membership of 16 women, we meet on a weekly basis to teach each other hand work skills, run food gardens at schools and our homes and contribute to monthly savings. We are also members of the Women in Energy and Climate Change Forum under the auspices of Earthlife Africa Johannesburg. SIPHUMELELE LUNCHEON WOMENS CLUB MESSAGE: We feel very fortunate that we are the first organization, in the township of Katlehong, to be able to bring a biogas digester to the community school as coordinators between GenderCC SA and the community. We are grateful that this project managed to help the school reduce the costs of gas for cooking for the 2058 learners, including our own children and grandchildren. The project also made it possible for us to involve youth in the area, we now have an active energetic youth group that is involved in environmental matters in the community. They help feed the biogas digester, work in the food garden established at school and clean illegal dumping and littering in the area. 7 The community at large including our groups of the elderly and youth have benefitted from the workshops that were facilitated by GenderCC SA and the workshop by Resilient Circular – (energy and industrial ecology) for Biogas Digester on how to feed and maintain it. The workshops by GenderCC SA helped us identify together with the youth group and other community members, the environmental and social issues necessary for a just transition including the lack of quality service delivery in the area and the lack of health care centres, skills centres, libraries, and youth employment. We are looking forward to the young group taking over the advocacy for climate, gender justice and just transition. 8 Katlehong is South Africa’s third largest town- ship located in Region C in the City of Ekurhu- leni, in Gauteng Province. According to the 2011 Census results from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA 2011), which are the most re- cent available statistics on this township, HISTORY OF KATLEHONG Katlehong had a total population of 407 294 with 124 841 households and 33.4% of these were female-headed households. Black Africans are the majority group that live in this township with IsiZulu and Sesotho as the most spoken languages. 70.2% of residents in Katlehong are within the working group of people aged 15 to 64 years of age. The elderly and young accounted for 2.5% and 27.2% of the total population, respectively. Katlehong along with other townships such as Vosloorus and Thokoza were formed because of the Apartheid Nationalist government having forcefully removed black immigrants out of the East Rand’s major towns. In the early 1990s Katlehong and Thokoza were hard hit by ‘political’ violence that left many of the residents homeless, destitute, and unemployed. Sadly, these circumstances have not changed much in these two townships that remained characterised by high unemployment rates especially amongst the young, informal settlements and housing issues and poverty. For example, there are six informal settlements within Katlehong, and most often informal settlements do not have access to basic services such as proper waste management, roads and infrastructure, access to water and sanitation services and access to electricity supply. The residents of this township, like any other in the country, often find themselves needing to appeal for government accountability and changes to their living circumstances service delivery protests. 9 Katlehong has its own unique social issues that are related to the standard of living of its residents but like most townships in South Africa, it has also borne the brunt of poor service delivery from the government. Access to basic services such as water and sanitation, electricity, proper housing is the constitutional right of every South African but this is often not the case for people that live in the informal settlements of many townships, including Katlehong. Katlehong has therefore been described as a township that is “characterised by an air of desperation and uncertainty and a culture of poverty”. This is because of residents lacking basic services and amenities which is a direct product of rapid population growth and poor delivery, transparency, and accountability from local government. Some of the key issues that are faced by residents of Katlehong are those of housing, crime, access to reliable energy sources for lighting, heating, and cooking as well as general living standards. Residents that live in informal settlements usually do not have access to reliable electricity or experience power outages and resort to using dangerous forms of heating such as open fires and traditional fire drums called a brazier (imbhawula) which can become a fire hazard. These fires spread very quickly to other shacks because they are built so close to each other and when one shack catches fire, this causes a domino effect, and this is because of overcrowding and minimal yard space. In an effort to address this hazard, in 2015, the City of Ekurhuleni launched its Re-blocking Pilot Programme which targeted eight informal settlements. Re-blocking focuses on reconfiguring and repositioning the layout of informal settlements into organised clusters to create space for basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and sanitation. This is usually a temporary solution as people wait for RDP housing or to be relocated to another location and this is focused on providing immediate relief, restoring dignity, and making informal settlements more habitable for residents. The City of Ekurhuleni has developed policies such as the Urban Design Policy Framework, the Ekurhuleni Complete Climate Change Response Strategy Guidelines for Departments and the Green City Action Plan that aim to tackle climate change within the city. Ekurhuleni is also a member of the Clean Energy Network and Inclusive Climate Action Forum at C40 Cities 10 South Africans are currently feeling the mounting pressure of high food, fuel, and energy prices because of global economic volatilities and climate change. Like most of the country, the Katlehong residents are also faced with a cost of living and energy crisis, and this comes with people feeling disgruntled, hopeless and in desperate need of a plan and solution from their local government leaders. Here lies an opportunity for the City of Ekurhuleni to make residents understand the linkages between equitable, gender-responsive and proactive climate action and the alleviation of socio-economic issues. Communities are receptive to solutions on dealing with climate-related challenges and it is important that messaging used by city officials in communities such as Katlehong is focused on deconstructing concepts like green jobs and just transitioning to educate and prepare residents for the various community projects on green jobs will begin. Campaigns such as WeSolve4X Clean My Planet that has been start- ed by a young person in Katlehong with the aim of inculcating environmental awareness in local and global communities, as well as promoting the benefits of a clean and healthy environment for future generations – are examples that the youth of Katlehong is innovative, it recognizes the impact of climate change and are ready to act. The City of Ekurhuleni can truly leverage the youth-led campaigns, initiatives, community organizations and innovative solutions to better understand the communities they will be working in especially in a process of a just transition to renewable energy sources. Young people of Katlehong are a critical stakeholder and their participation is paramount. Leadership Group. This continues to show the city’s strong commitment to inclusive climate action to help avoid climate breakdown and realizing the promises of a green and just future. Katlehong is indeed located in a municipality that is working towards green investments and implementing measures such as a Solar Power Programme, energy from landfill gas, smart water meters and reuse of treated wastewater. There is opportunity for these policies and planned measures to be implemented in Katlehong and its informal settlements. The Green City Action Plan should not only be focused and implemented in the city-centre or parts of the city that are deemed as economic hubs but rather it should also find expression in the Municipality’s townships. There is therefore an opportunity for the government to sensitize the residents of Katlehong about these climate change policies through awareness campaigns and creating opportunities for communities to get involved in programmes such as the Solar Power Programme. 11 The most vulnerable residents are experiencing a cost of living and energy crisis at the worst level, and they may not understand the linkages of climate change and their daily realities and struggles. Many residents are trying to en- sure they can put bread on the table, have jobs and basics such as water and in the winter have means for heating and cooking within their homes. There is certainly a need for capacity-building and equipping city officials and local Residents in Katlehong have participated in community resistance struggles against the lack of essential services such as electricity access, housing, and infrastructure. Continuous complaints about poverty, unemployment and landlessness have created a hostile relationship between municipal workers, ward councils and the community. Residents may feel that their municipal leaders have neglected them and as well as that municipal and city processes lack transparency and clear accountability lines. Therefore, it is possible that the community may not be very enthused and willing to form part of research and city-led community projects, campaigns on climate change, the just tran- sition, and the delivery of green jobs simply because of a lack of trust and confidence in their leaders. This challenge is twofold – as municipal workers and councillor’s may be of the view that residents have a strong sense of enti- tlement without matching this with a reciprocal acknowledgment of the city’s efforts and achievements and sense of responsibility on the part of residents to pay and look after the services provided. 12 government leaders to shape their messaging and actions towards educat- ing the Katlehong community of the intersectionality of climate change, its impacts and how residents can respond to current and future climate-related challenges at an individual level. The myriad of social issues faced by the community of Katlehong will un- doubtedly be exacerbated by climate change and it is important that city officials conscientize residents of this reality and the urgent need for just transitions that are sustainable and context sensitive. Public participation in community stakeholder consultation processes with local government will be critical in Katlehong as policies such as the Green City Action Plan and the Just Transition Framework moves towards policy implementation. The social issues, challenges and even the opportunities that exist in Katlehong should be considered from an intersectional gender lens when research, conversations, and initiatives on just transition, energy poverty and the cost-of-living crisis with a link to climate change begin. The voices and experiences of residents that will be impacted the most by climate and just transition policies are central to the inclusive and sustainable climate action. The City of Ekurhuleni recently established a local Just Transition Commission which might improve the situation if all stakeholders contributed to it in the City and if implemented. 13 The objective of the workshop was to enhance the understanding of the needs of disadvantaged communities especially women in the just transition and contribute to the development of collective knowledge, information, and advocacy tools. The workshop also aimed at facilitating movement building within civil society and community organizations through capacity-building and cross-sectoral solidarity to progressively establish a common framework and a set of initial collective demands for a gender-just and community led transition. GENDERCC SA’S JUST TRANSITION INTERVENTION IN KATLEHONG: JUST TRANSITION CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP: 14 Informing and influencing a strategic advocacy spaces is at the heart of the gender-just and community led transition to renewable energy, regenerative farming systems, circular economy, and resilient communities. The key focus was to support women and community-led regenerative farming and biogas generation in the Kwanele Community in Katlehong. Common issues were agreed upon as collective demands for a gender just and community led just transition, to be addressed by the Community, Local Councillor, and the National Government. Most of these issues are linked to community development and service delivery which plays an important part in the justice element of South Africa’s Just Transition Framework, considering its principles of Distributive; Restorative; and Procedural Justices 15 SPECIFIC JUST TRUNSITION CONCERNS & DEMANDS FOR KWANELE COMMUNITY, KATLEHONG To be addressed by the community: ● To refrain from burning tyres ● To clean the littering in the local river ● Form a Community Police Forum To be addressed by the local councillor: ● To build a bridge across the river for community and children’s safety who are crossing the river when going to school. ● Address the dysfunctional storm water drainage system ● Provide big steel bins to the community for waste. To be addressed by the national government (Developmental issues): ● Skills development / Recreational centre in the community ● Internship opportunities ● Rehabilitation centres ● Open lines of communication between government and communities ● Non-interference by politics to developmental issues ● There is no High School in the area which is a challenge for high school students ● Need for a Library and Police station in the area ● Bribery /Corruption (Impediment to local development and service delivery) 16 DOOR TO DOOR SURVEY: The survey took place in 3 sections in Kwanele township, Katlehong, namely (Kwanele South, Kwanele Proper and Kwanele Extension) covering 110 households conducted by 13 youth from the youth group. Summary of the results: ● Most of respondents were females ● Main source of income is social grants ● Age group – majority is youth to young adults (25 – 45 years) ● Education - majority have secondary/high school qualifications ● They have general knowledge on climate change and feel the impacts are affecting the community’s health. ● Limited to no knowledge on Just Transition and Green Jobs ● Most pressing community issues are more socio-economic than environmental i.e. (crime, unemployment, poverty,substance abuse, poor infrastructure, and teenage pregnancy) ● Majority feels the government should address these issues. 17 BIOGAS DIGESTER INSTALLATION AT KWANELE PRIMARY COMMUNITY SCHOOL: Biogas digester is one of the small-scale clean energy technologies which is off-grid, decentralised, gender-responsive (gives women a voice in energy choice and autonomy) community-based and can enable households, communities, businesses, and individuals to reduce greenhouse gas missions, meet local energy needs, and improve democratic control of new renewable energy systems. The system is small-scale and participatory in character, gives the communities a sense of control as well as improves their quality of life. The installation of the Biogas Digester at the school was preceded by a workshop by the service provider for the school, community (youth & women) and the kitchen staff at the school. The workshop explained how the biogas digester operates, how gas is produced from waste and how to maintain and what and how to feed it. The community, especially youth were hands on during the installation, they organized cow dung for the first inoculation, they currently take turns in helping the kitchen staff with chopping the vegetables and feeding the digester. The first benefit of the digester is the slurry (water coming from the digester) which is being used in the food gardens as organic fertilizer. The group is planning to bottle the slurry and sell it to raise funds for their projects.