Call for papers for a special issue: Employment and work in South Africa’s just transition

The notion of a just transition – encompassing distributive, procedural, and restorative justice dimensions – has become central to South Africa’s climate and energy policy frameworks. Coming out of the labour movement, questions of employment and work are central to the just transition. Yet, 15 years since the concept was first introduced into the South African context, the academic literature on the ways in which the transition is affecting work and employment remain narrowly conceived.

We invite contributions in the form of Research Articles, Review Articles and Commentaries on questions of labour, work and employment (broadly conceived) in South Africa’s transition. We particularly encourage submissions with diverse methodologies – including both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Some guiding questions:

  • What are the distributional effects of changing labour relations in the transition?
  • How does the transition change labour relations in affected sectors – e.g. automotive, agriculture, energy, mining?
  • How does the transition intersect and interact with other structural changes to the South African labour market, such as digitalisation?
  • In what ways are occupations and skills requirements changing?
  • How do workers experience the transition in their places of work and occupations?
  • Do new jobs and industries create conditions of decent work?
  • To what extent are social protection systems able to address the transition and its implications for workers?
  • What are the implications of the transition for unions and unionisation?
  • What is the relationship between decarbonisation and informality in the labour market?

Please submit your abstracts (max. 250 words) to guest editors Imraan Valodia (imraan.valodia@wits.ac.za) and David Francis (David.francis@wits.ac.za), cc’ing Katrina Lehmann-Grube (katrina.lehmann-grube@wits.ac.za) by 17 April.

Timelines:

  • Submission of Abstracts to Guest Editors – 17 April 2026
  • Submission of full papers to SAJS – 31 July 2026
  • Publication – late 2027