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Alleged nuclear move stinks of corruption - Green Bishop

Cape Town - Cabinet says it has no knowledge of the nuclear procurement programme being approved, but Business Day journalist Carol Paton reported earlier on Monday that Cabinet had approved the start of the programme without first doing a cost-benefit analysis. Cabinet never announced such a move last week.

If it has been approved in secret, then it stinks of corruption, writes Bishop Geoff Davies.

THE ALLEGED approval of the nuclear procurement programme by cabinet stinks of corruption. There is no other reason for it. President Jacob Zuma and those in power stand to gain huge amounts of money. The rest of us will see our beloved country further impoverished.  

Apart from sneaking it in at the end of the year when Parliament is closed, and the citizens of the country have already started their holiday, this major decision for our country was not even announced in the Cabinet briefing.

I hesitate to use the title of president. #ZumaMustFall is now an overriding priority, of far greater consequence than #FeesMustFall.  There won’t be any money for fees or the development of our country if Zuma continues as president and the nuclear deal goes through. It is quite obvious that this is why Minister Nhlanhla Nene was sacked.  He is pre-eminently a realist and has an excellent understanding of our fiscal position.  

This nuclear deal is not only disastrous financially, but is just plain foolishness. It will take years to implement – leaving us citizens overburdened with debt. It is foolish technologically as we have the best of renewable energy resources in the world. The costs of renewable energy are dropping and efficiency increasing in leaps and bounds.   

We are at the cusp of a huge job creating opportunity. Our nuclear plants will be white elephants by the time they come on stream and will leave an irresponsible legacy for millennia. It is irresponsible to ignore the inevitable human health and environmental impacts – on water, land, air and all life – of uranium mining as well as leaving nuclear waste for generations to come.  

God has given us all the energy we need shining on us daily and blowing in the wind.

We must stop the nuclear disaster and the first step is for Zuma to fall.

* Bishop Geoff Davies, known as the “Green Bishop”, encourages all faiths to take on their responsibility to seek eco-justice: justice for people and planet.

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