The story. A new report from South Africa's Centre for Environmental Rights found that none of the 412 coal mines that closed between 2006 and 2023 had set aside enough money to clean up the land and water they damaged. Weak enforcement lets mining companies walk away — or go bankrupt — leaving contamination, radioactive waste, and acid mine drainage for communities and taxpayers to deal with.

The bigger picture. Coal still supplied 74.31% of South Africa's electricity in 2025 (article), and Ember's generation data shows coal producing 197.5 TWh — dwarfing solar's 19.48 TWh and wind's 11.32 TWh combined. That reliance shows up in the country's carbon intensity: 698.96 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour, more than 50% above the global average of 458.46 grams (Ember, 2025). South Africa is trying to wind down over 100 coal mines producing 230 million tons a year, but the CER report shows the exit strategy has a hole in it — rehabilitation guarantees that were supposed to fund cleanup simply weren't adequate, sometimes falling far short of the $28 million a single mine can cost to restore, according to environmental campaigner Mariette Liefferink.

The tension. South Africa needs to retire coal to cut its outsized carbon intensity, but each closure without enforced rehabilitation funding just transfers the cost from mining companies to the public. The faster the transition moves, the more abandoned sites — and unpaid cleanup bills — pile up before anyone fixes the funding gap.