South Africa’s environmental movement has been described as ‘fractured, disparate and diverse’ (Death, 2014: 1232). This article considers the Life After Coal Campaign’s work in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga to examine the challenges faced by environmental campaigns. The article examines the relationship between the campaign and community members / activists through the lens of Jacklyn Cock’s (2019) ideas of ‘building counter power’ and Marlies Glasius and Armine Ishkanian’s (2015) ideas of ‘surreptitious symbiosis’. The article draws on a series of interviews and discussions with Life After Coal leaders and community members and activists affected by coal mining in eMalahleni. It finds that the Life After Coal campaign’s work in eMalahleni reflects the challenges of building a unified popular environmental movement. Despite its critical work in ‘building counter power’ through community mobilisations and the campaign’s catalysing effects it has yet to fully integrate the substantive aspects of an unrealised democracy in the form of genuine socioeconomic rights into its environmental frames. Further to this there are various levels of discord which hinder solidarity between formal civil society organisations and the organic community movement