Just Access: The Real Transition
Just Access: The Real Transition is a documentary-style podcast from PARI (Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring South Africa’s Just Transition through one simple test: access. Access to electricity, water, land, and affordable services — but also access to decision-making, opportunity, and the real benefits of a changing economy.
Just Access: The Real Transition
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 9: Beyond Green Growth
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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 9 brings two central voices in the series together to ask a bigger question, what would it actually take to make justice real?
Tasneem Essop convenes economist Dr Tracy Ledger and political economist Dr Sithembile Mbete to move beyond policy detail and interrogate the deeper political and economic choices shaping the transition.
The episode begins by challenging a core assumption, that inclusion alone is enough. In South Africa, millions are already included in the economy and energy system, but on deeply unequal terms. As a result, inclusion without equity often reproduces exclusion.
From there, the conversation opens up. What counts as “justice” in the transition is not agreed, and different definitions lead to very different outcomes. For some, it is about reducing emissions. For others, it is about compensating workers and regions tied to coal. But a broader view asks how the transition can fundamentally reshape an economy built on inequality.
The episode argues that current approaches risk simply replacing one system with another, swapping fossil fuels for renewables while leaving the underlying structure of the economy intact. Concepts like “green growth” may expand industries, but without addressing equity, they are unlikely to reduce poverty or exclusion.
At the heart of the discussion is a deeper constraint, a lack of political and economic imagination. Policy debates remain siloed, and opportunities to rethink how resources, energy, and economic power are distributed are often missed. Yet the transition also opens up real possibilities, especially if cheaper, decentralized energy can support new forms of livelihoods and more distributed economic participation.
Episode 9 makes a clear argument, the just transition is not only about changing energy sources. It is about rethinking the rules of the economy itself, and deciding who benefits from that change.
Subscribe to follow the full series, and to learn more about PARI and their research, visit www.pari.org.za