Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 3: Whose Land Powers the Transition?

Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa — not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity.

Episode 3 turns to the ground beneath the transition: land.

As South Africa accelerates renewable energy and green hydrogen projects, new pressures are being placed on land that already carries a long and unresolved history of dispossession. Tasneem Essop is joined by Dr Gaynor Paradza and Daniel Sher from PARI’s land governance programme to unpack how land tenure, identity and governance shape the Just Energy Transition — and who bears the risks.

The episode explains why land tenure security is central to climate justice. Land tenure describes the relationship between people and land — the rights they hold to use it, benefit from it, exclude others, or transfer it. In South Africa, many people access land outside the formal property system. When tenure is insecure, communities are more vulnerable to dispossession, sidelined in negotiations, or inadequately compensated when land is earmarked for mining or renewable energy developments. A just transition must ensure that those already marginalised do not once again absorb the costs of national development.

The conversation explores the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent and the “right to say no.” Although legal protections such as the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act exist, they are often difficult to enforce. Consultation may happen late, unevenly, or in ways that divide communities. On paper, rights are recognised; in practice, power imbalances frequently determine outcomes.

A case study from the Northern Cape illustrates these tensions. The Nama people, dispossessed during colonial and apartheid eras, now face the prospect of large-scale green hydrogen development on land they have successfully claimed in court but not fully regained in practice. The episode shows how “green” investment can reproduce historic patterns of exclusion if unresolved land claims and governance failures are ignored.

Ultimately, Episode 3 argues that land cannot be treated as a neutral backdrop to the energy transition. Climate mitigation and adaptation both happen on land, and decisions about its use are inseparable from history, governance and power. If South Africa has not yet achieved land justice, climate justice will remain incomplete.

Subscribe to follow the full series, and to learn more about PARI and their research, visit www.pari.org.za