JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Let’s cut right through the noise. The recent western sponsored climate activist “investigative” hits published by Open Secrets and regurgitated by fringe outlets are not journalism. They are a coordinated, legally actionable hatchet job engineered by radical activists who want to keep Africa in the dark.
The African Energy Chamber (AEC) will not apologize, backtrack, or sit down for supporting oil and gas. Let’s look at the facts. While elite Western activists lecture the developing world from the comfort of fully electrified grid systems, over 600 million Africans are living in severe energy poverty. You cannot industrialize a continent on empty climate slogans. You cannot run hospitals, build modern infrastructure, or uplift millions out of poverty on unproven theories. Natural gas and oil are not ideological playground topics; they are practical, non-negotiable tools for survival, baseline power, and economic expansion.
The absolute double standard here is staggering. Western nations aggressively secure their own energy independence, drill for fossil fuels, and inject trillions into their own capital markets without an ounce of self-righteous moralizing. Yet, when Africa uses its own natural resources to pull itself out of poverty, the global NGO complex throws a temper tantrum.
Let’s address the ringleaders of this transparent smear campaign: Ra’eesa Pather, Cheriese Dilrajh, Zen Mathe, Michael Marchant, and Luthando Vilakazi. This coordinated hit piece was timed with a specific, malicious intent: to sabotage the unprecedented success of African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town. Unfortunately for the activists, the market has spoken. AEW 2026 brought together over 12,000 global delegates, 150 exhibitors, and 450 speakers, generating a jaw-dropping $17 billion in total commitments and new investment deals. This includes massive, historic projects spanning from the Ivory Coast’s $10 billion expansion to drilling campaigns in Mozambique and licensing rounds across West Africa.
It is also highly illuminating to look at who is feeding these “investigators” their script. It is a matter of public record that Zion Adeoye was terminated for cause from his position due to serious behavioral misconduct. For Michael Marchant and Open Secrets to partner with a disgruntled, terminated ex-employee to build a fraudulent narrative against the AEC is not just bad journalism it is a textbook case of bad faith.
To the allegations regarding legal structures and corporate operations: CLG has operated strictly within the bounds of the law, and we stand firmly behind our track record of brokering some of the most critical energy security deals on the continent. We will not allow administrative pedantry and administrative technicalities to overshadow the multi-billion-dollar capital investments bringing literal electricity to real people. The real issue here isn’t the passport of an investor or the legal phrasing of a corporate filing; the real issue is that these Western-funded climate bullies want to block capital, choke compliance, and freeze African development.
The AEC does not answer to foreign NGOs, we do not take sides in foreign geopolitical wars, and we will not let African energy policy be held hostage by hypocritical activists. The lethal effects of real-time energy poverty far outweigh the theatrical outrage of these reports.
Our position remains rock solid. We welcome oil and gas investment. We support drilling where it expands African opportunity and saves lives. Consider this notice served: the AEC will vigorously defend Africa’s sovereign right to eradicate energy poverty on its own terms, using its own resources.
