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Cape Town – With 83% of South Africans seeing the country as corrupt, the idea of procuring 9 600 MW of nuclear energy is a scary prospect, says a Fin24 user.
Fin24 user Mariette Daubenton writes:
In support of your story about Fin24 user Richard Halsey’s opinion ('Nuclear secrecy biggest worry for Fin24 user,' Fin24 30 November 2015), I would like to state that I, too, question the competence and integrity of the current Minister of Energy, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who is currently leading South Africa into the largest tender in South Africa’s history: the planned new nuclear build programme.
Joemat-Pettersson’s record as minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries raised questions about her competence, and, trained as a teacher of English and History, one wonders what skills she brings to the Department of Energy.
Eighty-three percent of South Africans see their country as corrupt – a higher percentage than in any other African country − and South Africans are beginning to take a stand, as shown by their refusal to pay for e-tolls in Gauteng.
Joemat-Pettersson’s reluctance to make known the result of a study into South Africa’s readiness to expand its nuclear energy programme underlines another matter: the cost. She has said: “I cannot be responding to perceptions that we’re going to do this and it’s going to cost us one trillion. I don't know where that figure came from, certainly not from us.”
However, in an article on October 7, 2011, the Mail and Guardian stated that the Department of Energy, under then- Minister Dipuo Peters, had submitted its nuclear tender proposal to the Cabinet the previous month, and that South Africa was poised to issue the largest tender in its history—“an estimated R1trn contract to build six new nuclear reactors by 2030”.
Talking to Bruce Whitefield on his talk show (Cape Talk and 702), Eskom CEO Brian Molefe confirmed that the cost of the nuclear build is estimated to be R1trn, with a payback time of 20 years.
It seems that Joemat-Pettersson has not been properly briefed by her department, which speaks of either lack of competence within the department, or her deliberate obfuscation.
It seems that the South African government feels untouchable in negotiating the nuclear deals in secret, notwithstanding increased suspicion of such secrecy – while also exposing our country to the negotiating skills of a minister who has not taken the trouble to examine her own department’s presentation on nuclear energy to her ultimate authority, the country’s cabinet.
Like Richard Halsey, I too, have chills down my spine.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on Fin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.
