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The fight against greenwashing – Lazola Kati

Hosted by: Andani
August 5, 2026
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Timeline

  • 00:00 Cold open: introducing Lazola Gadi and Fossil Free South Africa's Fossil Ad Ban campaign
  • 05:18 Overview of FAB: research, policy lobbying, and community education on greenwashing
  • 06:28 Field visit to Mpumalanga, a community surrounded by 42 coal and gold mines
  • 08:37 What "FAB" stands for and the push for a policy-level ad ban
  • 10:43 Defining greenwashing: claiming to be green while the core business pollutes
  • 15:08 The "gangster at church" analogy: why imagery counts as greenwashing too
  • 17:33 Smoke and Mirrors report: R15m spent, 30.5m people reached in two months
  • 21:03 Why a legal definition is needed before companies can be held accountable
  • 23:13 Global north vs. global south: why greenwashing definitions must be local
  • 30:03 "Jobs or your lives": weighing investment threats against climate harm
  • 32:13 South Africa's diplomatic leverage: the Gaza case, Trump tariffs, and BRICS
  • 45:10 A cautionary parallel: the SAB alcohol-ad ban that was promised but never passed
  • 48:40 South Africa's first greenwashing complaint, filed against Total Energies
  • 52:04 How Total Energies' own appeal backfired and strengthened the ruling
  • 1:01:02 Why municipalities and bylaws are FAB's next battleground
  • 1:04:28 What "social licensing" means and how greenwashing manufactures it
  • 1:25:08 Activist, campaigner, campaign manager: Lazola's personal journey
  • 1:30:34 The scariest moment: blacklisted after #FeesMustFall, then AI surveillance
  • 1:39:41 Which municipalities FAB is currently prioritizing
  • 1:48:37 On the ground in Mpumalanga: health, land rights, and vanishing mines
  • 2:02:04 Closing: "I am a passenger on the jet because..."

Summary

In this episode, Lazola Kati from Fossil Free South Africa unpacks the fight against fossil fuel greenwashing and the push for an ad ban.

She reveals how imagery, CSR, and advertising build social license and why this is urgent in the Global South, where communities bear the real costs of pollution and climate injustice. We trace South Africa’s first greenwashing complaint, its regulatory victory, and how local bylaws can shape national policy. Beyond strategy, we explore activism, burnout, surveillance, and the power of civil society networks. A grounded look at real resistance for climate justice.

The Guest: Bio

Meet Lazola Kati

Lazola Kati is a campaigns, media, and communications specialist and climate justice campaigner at Fossil Free South Africa, where Lazola serves as Campaign Coordinator and Team Lead. With a background in social justice, public policy research, and political and international relations, Lazola works to challenge fossil fuel advertising and corporate greenwashing in South Africa.

Campaign Coordinator & Team Lead — Fossil Free South Africa

Lazola Kati

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Frequently asked questions

We’re happy to answer your questions

Who is Lazola Gadi?
Lazola Gadi is the Ad Campaign Manager at Fossil Free South Africa, where she leads the Fossil Ad Ban (FAB) campaign pushing for a legal ban on fossil fuel greenwashing in advertising. She led the campaign behind South Africa’s first successful greenwashing complaint, a landmark ruling against Total Energies, and her work has been featured in outlets like the Financial Times, Daily Maverick, and Mail & Guardian, and referenced in the South African Parliament.
FAB is Fossil Free South Africa’s campaign advocating for a policy-level ban on fossil fuel advertising that greenwashes companies as sustainable or environmentally friendly, similar to bans on tobacco advertising. It works on three fronts: producing greenwashing research, lobbying national and municipal policymakers to pass ad-ban laws, and educating civil society and mining-affected communities on how greenwashing plays out on the ground.
Greenwashing is when fossil fuel companies present themselves as environmentally friendly or supportive of sustainable development through claims, imagery, or corporate social investment (CSI) projects, while their core business continues large-scale fossil fuel extraction. Lazola compares it to a criminal donating to a church to atone for wrongdoing: the donation may be real, but it doesn’t offset or excuse the underlying harm.
In 2023, Fossil Free South Africa filed South Africa’s first-ever greenwashing complaint with the Advertising Regulatory Board, targeting Total Energies’ claims of supporting sustainable development through its South African National Parks partnership. After roughly seven months and an appeal by Total Energies that backfired, the board ruled in 2024 that a company whose primary business is fossil fuels cannot claim to be protecting the environment or advancing sustainable development, setting a precedent for future complaints.
It’s Fossil Free South Africa’s first greenwashing research report, analyzing just two months of advertising data from South Africa’s top six fossil fuel companies. It found they collectively spent over R15 million on marketing in that period and reached more than 30.5 million people with greenwashing messaging. The report is available at fossilfree.org.za.

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