COAL & ENERGY
Coal, continuity and the future
Thungela’ s new CEO Moses Madondo talks the long-term fundamentals of energy.
In a highly anticipated debut public address at the 2025 Joburg Indaba recently, Moses Madondo, newly appointed CEO of Thungela Resources, delivered a compelling defence of coal’ s enduring role in the global energy mix. In the session,“ In Conversation with Moses Madondo”, he offered a tribute to his predecessor, July Ndlovu, Thungela’ s founding CEO and a widely respected“ evangelist of coal”, and shared his own vision for the company and the sector in a rapidly changing energy landscape.
“ The world needs energy,” said Madondo,“ and coal remains a cornerstone to meet that demand.”
This was a challenge to the prevailing narrative that coal is a relic of the past. Madondo made it clear that while Thungela supports the global march toward decarbonisation, it does so grounded in realism. Coal, he argued, is a legacy fuel, and a necessary enabler of energy resilience, industrial competitiveness and the long arc of human development – especially in emerging markets.
“ The irony of the energy transition is that it still requires coal to enable it.”
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