GOOD Statement by Kaden Arguile,
GOOD National Youth Organiser
23 April 2026
South Africa has made many global commitments on the world stage and at business conferences regarding its support for a just transition away from fossil fuels and its investment in a greener future. With many of these goals set for 2030 and many infrastructure projects requiring a minimum three-year time frame based on historical data, it is vital that we keep track of the status of these environmental projects so far. Analysing the decisions, political rhetoric, and positions of the South African government is also a key component of this review.
If the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and President Cyril Ramaphosa want to be serious about their Just Transition, they must take off their blindfolds and acknowledge that they are sacrificing the environment in every sector. Air pollution runs rampant from Cape Town to Limpopo, with the latest scientific report stating that over 40% of Capetonians (1.9 million) live in high air pollution areas. Experimental offshore oil and gas drilling has just been approved for expansion.
We continue to export a significant portion of our coal to Israel, which has committed eco-terrorism in the Middle East. Natural species continue to die out due to sewage mismanagement, and our oceans are defenceless due to an extremely underfunded coastguard. While we are a few years from our goal, we are not nearing the finish line but actively running against it.
It is because of this stance that various NGO’s, activists and community organisations came together today to march to parliament and hand over a referendum of demands. We fully support and sign on to these reforms and endorse the work that organisations such as Extinction Rebellion SA and Fossil Free have done to hold the government accountable to their transition commitments. We cannot be funding new oil, gas and coal projects in 2026 when all our aligned statements at global events such as COP suggest the opposite.
The implications for this stance are vast. Millions unhealthier South African’s pouring into our already fragile health care system, death of species or the destruction of their habitats harming our tourism sector, precious water sources are being contaminated, and countless more can occur if the government is not held liable to their commitment to a Just Transition. A decision with which we have also taken billions of rands in conditional loans from various countries.
For South Africa to move forward, it requires environmental stability. To achieve this, GOOD reinforces its key commitments of its Environmental Manifesto.
Government must:
- Invest in clean energy and divert from fossil fuel production or expansion
- Ensure that no community dependent on fossil fuel production for their livelihoods is left behind in the process
- End the practice of greenwashing in media and events
- Protect our fauna, flora and oceans from fossil fuels and pollution
With these basic principles, we have a chance at changing in the right direction. Our current trajectory, however, places us firmly on course for an environmental disaster in the following decades. The government and the DFFE must hold true to their promises.
South Africans from every culture, age, background and religion gathered outside of parliament on Wednesday to reinforce the truth that power belongs to the people. With every act of environmental disregard by the national executive and the DFFE, they reinforce the fact that our future is not important to them. This executive must evaluate whether these projects are worth the risk of international and local condemnation. We cannot claim to love this country when we so eagerly poison it.
Media Enquiries: media@forgood.org.za