Addressing the North West Mining Investment Conference, on Jan. 25, South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) Minister Gwede Mantashe told the listeners that green is going to have to take a back seat to a dependable power supply. According to the official SA Government News Agency (SANews.gov.za), Mantashe told the investors that, “If we are going to deal with climate change, there must be security of energy supply, then we can navigate the transition more systematically and in a structured way. But if there is energy poverty; there are still about 13% of South Africans who have no access to energy. We must deal with that, as we deal with coming down from high carbon emission to low carbon emission.” Not exactly what investors — who are otherwise all hyped on expected riches from the mirage of the “green platinum” craze just over the horizon — wanted to hear.
“If we ignore the poverty,” Mantashe continued, “[and] introduce programs to address climate change, we [will] face a revolt. Our message will not reach our people. Our people want to access energy – affordable, sustainable, dependable. Then we can talk about how we clean it. But if we don’t have access to energy, we have no choice,” he said. In this context he also continued his defense of nuclear power. (https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/mining-industry-can-contribute-just-energy-transition-mantashe)
Separately, in an interview with CityPress, Mantashe said there is an anti-development operation directed against South Africa (and him, in particular), led by the London-based Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. Mantashe explained how the money from London “is channeled to an institution based in the University of Cape Town, which funds a number of projects including aspects of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and other civil society groups to destabilize the work of the Department,” later identifying the University of Cape Town institution as #UprootTheDMRE. He said the DMRE had a detailed report from the CSIR, “which we got hold of and that outlines those details.” Environmentalists have protested loudly, in response.
The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) is one of the world’s largest private (family/fondi) pools of money, reportedly involving Rothschild family funds. Officially known as an “activist” hedge fund, it is directed by one of London’s richest, and most secretive men, Sir Christopher Hohn. In 2007, TCI was the fund which led the breakup of Dutch ABN-AMRO Bank — then the world’s largest. It helped instigate the British takeover of Luxembourg’s Arcelor Steel by the Indian Mittal Steel. Most recently, TCI surfaced as a financier of the “monkeywrenching” Extinction Rebellion.
See “Who’s Bankrupting America? Felix Rohatyn’s ‘al-Qaeda’ Destroyed American Industry,” EIR Vol 33, #26, June 30, 2006,
“Rothschild’s Inter-Alpha Pushes Imperial Genocide,” EIR Vol 37, #38, October 1, 2010 https://larouchepub.com/other/2010/3738rothschild_imperial_genocide.html