THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS URGES THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT TO STRONGLY CONSIDER GERMANY'S ADVICE ON NUCLEAR ENERGY

The Economic Freedom Fighters urges the the South African Government to heed Germany's call that the country should not proceed with the Nuclear Build programme. During his address to the South African International Renewable Energy Conference, the German Ambassador to South Africa said "After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Germany decided to fundamentally change it's energy supply. We have the know-how for nuclear supply and a lot of companies who work in this sector, yet, we decided to give it up for several reasons".

Whilst Germany's experience with nuclear energy could have been unique and under different circumstances, we believe that there are many reasons why South Africa should not pursue the Nuclear Build programme, and part of those reasons are:

1) The Nuclear build programme is unaffordable: The preliminary estimations of the cost of the Nuclear build programme is that it will cost SA Government more than R1 trillion, which is more than the annual budget of the state. Judging with what happened with massive expenditure items of the ANC Government such as the Arms Deal, Gautrain, Nkadla, and the Kusile and Medupi construction, there is high possibility that at the end, the Nuclear build programme will cost SA more than R4 trillion.

2) Nuclear accidents are extremely dangerous and catastrophic: While there are advanced means to curtail nuclear accidents, the fact that when they happen they can destroy and damage all life across generations is not comfortable. Why does the ANC choose to use potentially catastrophic energy sources whilst there are renewable energy options?

3) Pursue renewable and green energy: Instead of the nuclear build programme, the South African Government should dedicate all resources towards green and renewable energy because such preserves the environment and is often labour absorptive, can create millions of jobs for South Africans.

The EFF will over the next few months table a substantial input to Parliament and Government on why the Nuclear Build programme should not be pursued. We call on all progressive formations, including the renewable energy sector to consolidate forces and campaign strongly for renewable and green energy, instead of Nuclear.

In the 2014 General Elections Manifesto, the EFF said, "The EFF Government will invest heavily in green energy sources, including windmills, solar water heaters and all forms of solar energy with the intention of moving away from coal energy dependency". It is upon this basis that we should take up a concerted campaign to reject the use of Nuclear energy.

The EFF's reasonable suspicions is that Government's pursuit of Nuclear Build programme is aimed at enriching few families and corporations that are connected to the political elite, particularly Mr. Zuma's family. We call on additional voices from all sectors of South Africa to reject the Nuclear build programme in favour of labour absorptive and safe renewable and green energy.

Issued by Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi, National Spokesperson, Economic Freedom Fighters, 6 October 2015