Minister Joemat-Pettersson: nuclear procurement process has stalled 

6 April 2016

Minister of Energy, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, confirmed this morning in the Energy Portfolio Committee that the next phase of the nuclear procurement process has been stalled indefinitely. The Democratic Alliance (DA), which has been calling for the nuclear programme to be be abandoned from the outset, welcomes this move as the first step toward its outright cancellation. 

The Minister’s admission came in response to a question I posed in committee relating to the Request for Proposal (RFP) that was scheduled to be issued on 1 April. 

Minister Joemat-Pettersson informed the committee that that 1 April deadline was not met and that no new date for the issuing of the RFP has been set, signalling that the procurement process is now in limbo. 

The follows my letter to the Minister last week in which I asked her to suspend the process in the light of a number of procedural irregularities. The ANC government simply cannot proceed with a nuclear procurement process that is not open, transparent and free from corruption. 

The DA has staunchly opposed the nuke deal since it was first revealed that the South African government, under the direct leadership of President Zuma, had signed an agreement with the Russian state-owned nuclear corporation, Rosatom. 

This agreement was entered into without the correct process being followed and raised serious questions relating to potential corruption given the personal involvement of the President. Further questions were raised after the purchase of Shiva Uranium by the Guptas, suggesting that the nuclear deal is a project of state capture for the personal benefit of a connected few and opens the door for corruption of the highest order. 

While today’s admission is a victory for the people of South Africa who cannot afford to bear the burden of an ill-advised and unaffordable nuclear program, the DA will not rest until the project has been abandoned outright. 

In the interim we will fight to ensure that all decisions relating to South Africa’s nuclear power program are made in an open and transparent manner and in consultation with the Auditor General and Treasury. 

With the South African economy in crisis, we cannot allow a deal that places the already strained fiscus at further risk. 

Issued by Gordon Mackay, DA Shadow Minister of Energy, 6 April 2016