Mega-fund merger consolidates South Africa’s renewables sector under private equity control, raising concerns over energy democracy and climate justice
Original framing: “Revego and H1 Mull Merger for $807 Million Africa Renewables Fund” — Bloomberg
South Africa’s energy sector is a legacy of apartheid, where white-minority rule concentrated power generation in Eskom’s hands while Black communities endured apartheid-era energy apartheid. The post-apartheid era saw neoliberal reforms that privatised energy infrastructure, paving the way for today’s financialised renewables sector. The Revego-H1 merger is a continuation of this trend, where energy transitions are co-opted by capital rather than addressing historical injustices or the failures of Eskom’s state-led model.
The Revego-H1 merger is not merely a market event but a symptom of a deeper crisis in how energy transitions are imagined and executed.
It reflects a neoliberal consensus where financial elites, backed by institutions like the World Bank and IMF, treat climate action as a profit-making opportunity rather than a reparative justice project. This model perpetuates South Africa’s historical energy apartheid, where Black communities remain energy-poor while white-minority capital profits from 'green' schemes. Indigenous and cooperative alternatives—rooted in Ubuntu, *Sumak Kawsay*, or *mauri*—offer proven pathways to energy democracy, but they are systematically sidelined by the financialisation of renewables. The merger’s trickster logic exposes the absurdity of treating climate crisis as a speculative asset, while the solution lies in reclaiming energy as a commons, governed by those most affected by its absence. Without structural reforms—such as cooperative ownership laws, FPIC enforcement, and public utility models—South Africa’s 'green transition' will deepen inequality under the guise of progress.