Vaal Hydrogen Hub’s hollow promises

A R4.7-billion green hydrogen project promised jobs, industrial development and investment for communities in the Vaal Special Economic Zone (SEZ). But more than two years after it was announced as part of South Africa’s evolving energy transition, the site where the Hydrogen Valley Innovation Hub was meant to rise remains undeveloped. When Oxpeckers visited the earmarked site in Rietspruit, about a kilometre from Sebokeng, in February and March 2026, there were no construction vehicles, fencing or signs of development.

Instead, the land lay open and undisturbed, with crops growing where the flagship green-energy facility had once been promised. The project forms part of the government’s broader Hydrogen Valley strategy, which aims to position South Africa as a global player in green hydrogen (GH2 ), a zero-carbon fuel produced via electrolysis powered by renewable energy. The innovation hub was widely publicised in 2023 as a “first on the African continent”.

It forms part of a government-led SEZ in Gauteng designed to revitalise the Sedibeng district – including Emfuleni, Midvaal and Lesedi municipalities – into a green-energy industrial and agricultural hub. It was expected to begin operating in January 2025 and to create up to 400 jobs in its first year, in a region afflicted by steel mill closures and job losses. The innovation hub is reportedly anchored by a hydrogen fuel-cell manufacturing facility – known as Project Phoenix – developed by Mitochondria Energy, an independent power producer founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Mashudu Ramano, who owns 75.5% of the company.

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The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) holds the remaining 24.5%. Oxpeckers first contacted Mitochondria Energy on February 5 2026, requesting an on-camera interview with Ramano at the site of the development. On February 6, the company’s stakeholder engagement manager, Charles Ramano, indicated that the team would follow up.

Further attempts to secure the interview and requests for comment until March 10 were met with silence. When the #PowerTracker team visited the site on February 19 and March 9, the land earmarked by the Emfuleni local municipality for the development of the project remained untouched. Oxpeckers contacted the municipality on February 23 via email to request an on-camera interview with municipal representatives.

There was no response. Despite an undertaking by acting assistant manager for media relations, Mojalefa Radebe, to review the questions and respond, no reply had been received by the time of publication.

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