This discussion explores South Africa’s just transition, the shift towards a low-carbon economy while ensuring that no one is left behind, through the lens of those most at risk of being marginalized: women, youth, and mine workers. The conversation examines the intersection of climate justice, social protection, and economic inclusion, and highlights the real-world impacts of the transition on livelihoods, care economies, and communities historically dependent on coal.

The speakers, Ms Thandile Zonke, Ms Boitumelo Molete and Ms Lebogang Mulaisi, explain that the just transition has many definitions depending on perspective, but at its core it is about social equity, centering workers and communities as active participants, and addressing South Africa’s unemployment, poverty, and inequality alongside its environmental goals. The concept originated in workers’ movements, particularly trade unions, and in South Africa it is deliberately broadened to include women and youth, who face particular vulnerabilities. Workers, the speakers stress, are never separate from communities, so policy must address both at once.

The discussion draws attention to the compounded burdens women carry: economic marginalization, unpaid care work, health challenges, and gender-based violence, all of which are worsened by climate events such as the Limpopo floods. In coal-dependent regions like Mpumalanga, mine workers and their families fear job losses and community decline, which is why social dialogue led by strong unions such as the National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) is seen as critical. Barriers such as a lack of childcare and early childhood development (ECD) centers, wage disparities, unsafe workplaces, and fragmented funding limit inclusive participation.

The conversation closes by presenting the just transition as a chance to negotiate a new social compact rather than a purely technical or industrial shift. Success depends on social protection, skills development, economic diversification, gender-responsive policies, and close coordination among government, labor unions, civil society, and communities, with the voices of impacted people at the center.

This discussion presents the just transition not merely as a technical or industrial shift but as a profound social transformation, one that calls for resolve, inclusivity, and a collective vision of dignity and opportunity for all, built by listening to and empowering the communities most affected.