Parliament and Cabinet on collision course on Nuclear Deal

14 December 2015

The Democratic Alliance (DA) finds the decision by Cabinet to proceed with the procurement of 9600 MW of additional nuclear capacity utterly inexplicable as government has yet to: 

- complete and make publically available a detailed cost analysis; 

- detail the impact of nuclear procurement on the long-term price of electricity for consumers; or

- await the findings of the Cape High Court as to the legality of the pre-procurement phase (which itself is yet to be completed).

The DA will not stand for this and will accordingly write to both the Minister of Energy, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, and the Portfolio Committee Chair expressing our deep concern.

The decision by Cabinet to proceed without critical information regarding the potential procurement is blatantly irrational in light of South Africa’s very real and worsening economic challenges following the President’s bungle in the dismissal of Minister of Finance and the subsequent muddle.

The DA reminds Cabinet that both the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and the Constitutional Court have ruled unambiguously that decisions of government must be seen to be rational to be considered valid. 

Broader questions as to the legality of Cabinet’s decision to proceed with procurement  also exist with regard to the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) which requires National Treasury sign-off of any major public procurement. 

Other than allocating R200 million for preparatory work for potential nuclear procurement during the Medium Term Policy Statement (MTBPS) in November – no such sign-off has been provided by National Treasury. 

The DA is also deeply concerned that Parliament is being sidelined by Cabinet in what will constitute South Africa’s biggest ever public procurement amounting to at least R 1 trillion.

In August, Energy Portfolio Committee Chairman, Fikile Majola, promised public hearings on nuclear procurement before the end of 2015.

This was followed in October this year National Treasury Director-General, Lungisa Fuzile, who stated unequivocally that government would not proceed with the Nuclear New Build programme without parliamentary approval. 

Neither the public hearings nor Parliamentary approval have been provided yet Cabinet has approved a decision to proceed with nuclear. 

It is clear that President Zuma and his Cabinet are intent on by-passing parliamentary oversight in their ill-advised pursuit of an additional 9600 MW of nuclear capacity.

Issued by Gordon Mackay, Shadow Minister of Energy, DA, 14 December 2015