Energy Conversations Podcast

The lights are back on. Now comes the harder question: who gets to take part?In this Season 3 compilation of Energy Conversations, we bring together the people shaping South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. The episode follows the whole journey from policy to participation: how the grid was stabilised, how the electricity market is opening up, what communities should expect from new energy projects, and which skills the transition actually needs.You’ll hear why only 10 to 20 of the roughly 1,500 people at Koeberg are nuclear reactor physicists, why South Africa needs to rethink how it values vocational careers, and what you can do now to be ready when opportunities arrive.

How do you build a career in South Africa's renewable energy sector, especially when the path isn't obvious?In this Energy Careers episode, Thokozile Zambane sits down with Abey Tau, Director of Social Impact and Sustainability at Mulilo Energy. Abey started out in public administration and worked through consultancy, IT and fossil fuels before moving into renewables. He talks about how he made those pivots, the skill he didn't expect to matter most, the energy jobs young people often overlook, and what actually gets a CV noticed when he's hiring.

Season 3 of Energy Conversations explores the move from policy to participation. 📲 Follow Energy Conversations LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-convos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/energyconvos/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@energy_convos WhatsApp channel: https://chat.whatsapp.com/D1vbrYBljik6v4QoF8VWEW Energy Conversations is powered by Kani Development Solutions and the African Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School#EnergyCareers #RenewableEnergy #SouthAfrica #JustTransition #CareerAdvice

Can South Africa turn its mineral wealth into lasting economic benefit or are we just mining for someone else's transition?Dr. Lwazi Ngubevana, CEO of Consulmet South Africa, joins Energy Conversations to unpack why South Africa should stop calling them "critical minerals" and start thinking strategically. From the helium reserves SA lost to an American buyer, to the vocational skills gap that makes beneficiation impossible, to the messy reality of engaging communities who may not even know who their own representatives are, this episode goes deep on what it would actually take to build a mineral-driven industrial economy.

Season 3 of Energy Conversations explores the move from policy to participation.Guest: Dr. Lwazi Ngubevana — CEO, Consulmet South AfricaHost: Thokozile Zambane
📲 Follow Energy ConversationsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-convos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/energyconvos/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@energy_convos WhatsApp channel: https://chat.whatsapp.com/D1vbrYBljik6v4QoF8VWEWEnergy Conversations is powered by Kani Development Solutions and the African Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School.#EnergyConversations #JustTransition #criticalminerals #helium #greeneconomy #mining #tvet #southafrica

"From that one interview where someone said, 'We could have hired four people for your job' — now I introduce myself as the person who can do four people's jobs."Season 3 of Energy Conversations explores the move from policy to participation.

📲 Follow Energy ConversationsLinkedIn: / energy-convosInstagram: / energyconvosTikTok: / energy_convosWhatsApp channel: https://chat.whatsapp.com/D1vbrYBljik...

Energy Conversations is produced by Kani Development Solutions and supported by the African Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School.

#EnergyConversations #CareerDevelopment #CompetencyBlindness #EnergyCareers #Sustainability #Decarbonization #WomenInEnergy #EnergyTransition

In this episode, Thokozile Zambane is joined by Abey Tau, Director of Social Impact and Sustainability at Mulilo Energy, one of South Africa’s most active independent power producers. Tau takes us inside an IPP to explain how projects engage communities from the first environmental assessments through construction and into operations

Is South Africa's automotive industry ready for Europe's carbon rules?The automotive sector makes up just over 5% of South Africa's GDP and supports around 500,000 jobs across its value chain. Most of the vehicles we export go to Europe, where carbon rules like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) are changing what it takes to stay in that market.In this episode, Thokozile Zambane speaks to Reabetsoe Kgoedi, an environmental and sustainability project lead with more than a decade of experience in energy management. Her master's research at the African Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School looked at how automotive manufacturers in the Eastern Cape are working to decarbonise.They discuss what decarbonising a car manufacturer actually involves, why South Africa can't copy and paste the West's approach, how a coal-reliant and unstable grid shapes the transition, and why energy efficiency is the most affordable place to start. Reabetsoe also explains why industry, government and institutions need to work together, and why Africa's resources make continental collaboration an opportunity."The biggest injustice we can do to South Africa is to copy and paste what the West is doing into our context."Season 3 of Energy Conversations explores the move from policy to participation.📲 Follow Energy ConversationsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-convos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/energyconvos/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@energy_convos WhatsApp channel: https://chat.whatsapp.com/D1vbrYBljik6v4QoF8VWEW

Energy Conversations is produced by Kani Development Solutions and supported by the African Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School.#EnergyConversations #JustTransition #Decarbonisation #AutomotiveIndustry #CBAM #SouthAfrica

Winning your first energy contract is only the start. You also need to know the rules well enough to use them.In this episode from our archive, Thokozile Zambane speaks to Barutile Unity Makofane, a former corporate procurement and contracts specialist who now runs her own battery and energy storage business. She has reviewed tenders from the inside and now bids for them from the outside.Barutile takes you from registering your business to managing a signed contract. She covers the compliance mistakes that get bids disqualified, why a B-BBEE certificate alone won't win you the work, how to price competitively against established players, and what to do in the first days after you're awarded a contract.This episode is for entrepreneurs, SMMEs and suppliers who want to take part in South Africa's energy sector.📲 Follow Energy ConversationsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-convos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/energyconvos/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@energy_convos WhatsApp channel: https://chat.whatsapp.com/D1vbrYBljik6v4QoF8VWEW Subscribe for more conversations that take South African energy from policy to participation.#EnergyConversations #EnergyEntrepreneurs #Procurement #SMMEs #SouthAfrica

How do you build a 20-year career in the energy sector without ever planning to? For Lomile Modiselle, Director of Energy and Electricity Technical Services at the City of Tshwane, the answer is simple: find the gap, and fill it.In this episode of Energy Conversations - Careers, Lomile shares her remarkable journey. From dropping out of civil engineering due to lack of funds, to stumbling into electrical engineering at an FET college in Pretoria, to being scouted by companies before she even applied for an apprenticeship. Along the way, she earned two master's degrees and is now pursuing a law degree to better understand the contracts shaping South Africa's energy future.Lomile's story is a masterclass in intentional career-building: identifying what you don't know, going out to learn it, and refusing to be left behind as the sector transforms. Her message to young people — especially young women — is clear: master your technical skills, find your gap, take up your space, and never go without a mentor.Guest: Lomile Modiselle — Director of Energy and Electricity Technical Services, City of TshwaneHost: Thokozile Zambane

Energy Conversations, Careers, goes behind the job titles to understand the different pathways into the energy sector, the choices people make along the way, and what others can learn from them.Powered by Kani Development Solutions and the African Energy Leadership Centre at the Wits Business School.

Eskom generates South Africa's electricity, but it's the municipality that gets it into your kitchen, and that last mile is where the energy transition will actually be decided.  

In this episode, Thokozile Zambane speaks to Lomile Modiselle, director of energy and electricity technical services at the City of Tshwane, about her Wits research into how municipalities in Gauteng are integrating renewable energy into ageing infrastructure. They get into what's actually holding progress back: siloed departments, a skills gap that isn't about wires but about translation, and a retention crisis nobody's talking about. 

Follow Energy Conversations on LinkedIn, Instagram and Tiktok. Subscribe for more as we translate South Africa’s Just Energy Transition.  

Energy Conversations is produced by Kani Development Solutions and supported by the African Energy Leadership Centre at the Wits Business School.  

 
Dr Phindile Masangane's career has taken her from a chemistry lab in rural Eswatini to executive roles across South Africa's energy sector, and now to the Development Bank of Southern Africa.  

In this episode of Energy Conversations, she walks through the real version of that journey: the opportunities she didn't plan for, building a career and a family at the same time, and what it actually takes to rise in an industry that's still overwhelmingly male. This isn't the LinkedIn version. It's the turns, the doubts, and the doors.