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Power system no longer able to keep the lights on. the poorest here hit hardest. after 20, 25 years. you're going to have to close down? yes. the power crisis is the result of decades of mismanagement and massive corruption, criminal gangs ready to kill anyone who tries to stop the looting. i was shaking badly. i was literally lying like this and i started gasping for air. a mixture of cyanide and sodium arsenite. today, south africa still gets almost all its power from burning coal. it's a lethal addiction. it's killing us. this coal is killing us. the answer, to many, is a green revolution.

South africa is big and sunny. it has vast wind and solar potential. and western nations are now backing something called a just energy transition — an $8 billion plan to help wean south africa off coal. we have a vast, abundant energy source freely available to us, which is our wind and solar resources. they're amongst the best of anywhere in the world. so, we have some real least—cost options in front of us. we could transition very rapidly onto a renewable—dominant energy system. and speed is crucial because if south africa drags its feet on going green, its exports could soon be blac...

In coal country. you can see the coal—fired power stations on the horizon and you can smell the coal, too. now, in theory, this huge industry is supposed to be quietly transitioning to renewables — to solar and wind. south africa has huge resources of both. but in practice, that transition is proving very difficult and very dangerous. we're heading to a town called emalahleni. the word itself means "place of coal". if you want to understand south africa's energy crisis, this is a good place to start. the town is surrounded by mines and by criminal gangs fighting for a slice of the coal ind...

In 2019, a businessman, andre de ruyter, was brought in to clean up the state power utility eskom. he was blunt about the challenges. so, the stays were cut, the tower was pushed over onto the other line but nothing was stolen, so this is not an economic crime. this was clearly now an act of sabotage and i think we can call it as such. but that outspokenness would soon get him in trouble. in fact, as we'll see in a moment, it would get him poisoned. the pressure to break south africa's dependence on coal has been building for years and yet, south ofjohannesburg, machines the size of apartment ...

Relatively small economy is still one of the world's great c02 emitters. and here's the impact. machine whirs eight—year—old princess matsebula has grown up in coal country. when she struggles with breathing, it's very hard cos she'll be quiet, she won't eat, she won't talk, she won't do anything. official information about pollution levels here is curiously hard to get but leaked studies suggest this province is among the most polluted places on earth and that the coal industry is killing thousands of people every year. my wish is they have to cancel the coal so that we can breathe clean ...