The retired coal-fired Komati Power Station, operated by Eskom, is seen near Komati village, in the Mpumalanga province in South Africa, 9 May 2024. Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo

The government is struggling to strike a balance between calls to reduce its carbon footprint and stop harmful emissions and the need to provide electricity to Africa's most advanced economy, which has stagnated due to power cuts.

Power utility Eskom, whose fleet of old coal-fired power plants generates most of South Africa's electricity, had applied to exempt eight of its plants from minimum emission standards prescribed in air quality regulations.

In granting the exemptions, the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) said it would require Eskom to step up monitoring, appoint environmental health specialists and provide mobile health clinics, among other measures.

"These exemptions are not a blanket reprieve but are tailored to each facility with stringent conditions," environment minister Dion George told a press conference.

Six of the plants - Lethabo, Kendal, Tutuka, Majuba, Matimba and Medupi - will have exemptions capped at five years, expiring on 1 April 2030, while the Duvha and Matla power stations will be exempted until their planned decommissioning dates in 2034.

Eskom said it was reviewing Monday's decision and was committed to reducing negative societal impacts on health and the environment.

The utility, one of the continent's worst polluters, has been running its plants hard in an attempt to end a decade of economically devastating power cuts and clear a maintenance backlog amid regular breakdowns.

It has previously said that retrofitting its plants, many of them 30 to 40-years-old, with new technology to reduce harmful emissions is too costly.

Early this month a 10-year study found that people living near coal-fired power stations, mostly concentrated in Mpumalanga province's coal belt, had a mortality rate 6% higher than their peers elsewhere in South Africa.

The report from the South African Medical Research Council and Britain's Department for International Development found higher rates of birth defects and cardiovascular and lung disease in communities near plants. It recommended phasing out the coal-fired plants.

"We want enough electricity to grow our economy, and we want clean, breathable air," George said. "It is completely unacceptable when our children have problems with their lungs, and babies are born with cleft palates."