South Africa has long been one of the world’s largest consumers of coal. But the country is now in the midst of transitioning its energy supply from coal to renewable sources. But when a country moves away from a source of energy like coal what happens to the towns and communities that were built to support the coal industry.
Today on the Sunday Story we bring you a story from Radio Workshop, a podcast in South Africa that works with youth reporters around the continent. Host Lesedi Mogoathe sent youth reporter Siya Mokoena and senior producer Dhashen Moodley to a coal mining town at the center of this transition to find out what happens to people who’ve built their lives around coal.