How African Women Are Fighting Climate Capitalism Today

From the petrochemical refineries of Zamdela to the oilfields of the Niger Delta, Africa’s communities live in the shadow of ‘smoke giant’ energy conglomerates who are unveiling green branding without loosening their grip on resources, data or power. As climate finance trickles into the continent, a quiet battle is emerging over who designs and controls the systems that will define our energy future.

In Zamdela, a small township north of the Free State in South Africa, mornings began with sirens. Not the kind that signals a school day or a factory shift, but a deep, ominous wail that pierced the stillness before dawn. It was our unspoken alarm clock, signalling that the Sasol plant was about to release another wave of chemicals into the air. You could smell it before it reached you, thick and metallic, slithering like death under doors and through window frames. It invaded our homes, claiming every breath, every corner, every hope of clean air as its own. This is how we learnt to measure time: not by clocks, but by chemicals. Not by sunrise, but by sirens.

For children like me, this was not a passing inconvenience, it was a life sentence written in inflammation and pain. I was chronically ill, my sinuses so swollen so much that my existence revolved around nasal sprays and antihistamines. I would sneeze until my head throbbed with sharp, splitting pain that seemed to come from inside my bones. My little sister’s body told its own story through painful skin flare-ups that left angry red welts across her arms and face.