It is always an exciting time when the date arrives to launch The groundWork Report, which gives an account of the state of environmental justice in South Africa in relation to a focus theme. In 2022, we chose to speak with and listen to people who are living the transition. What is not a surprise is that it is not just. Indeed, we see many left on the waste heaps of an economy that feeds capital accumulation rather than what is promised in our celebrated Constitution: a development that is ecologically sustainable and that seeks to promote “justifiable economic and social development”. The transition now is one of capital closing shop and moving on – from the Shell and BP oil refinery in south Durban to Eskom’s power stations in Mpumalanga. People are reporting to work, and they are being told to go home
