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The DA notes with concern the admission, during the Portfolio Committee on Energy today, by Minister of Energy, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, that she – as the Minister in charge of driving South Africa’s nuclear procurement programme – has not seen the International Atomic Agency’s Report on South Africa’s readiness to implement nuclear energy safely.

This is notwithstanding the fact that this document was promised to the Portfolio Committee at the end of the fourth Parliament and to date members have not been furnished with it. The DA has submitted a Promotion to Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to gain sight of this document and to date that PAIA application has been ignored.

I will therefore be submitting parliamentary questions to ascertain how it is possible that the Zuma administration, represented by Minister Joemat-Pettersson, can advocate for nuclear energy while the report detailing our infrastructure and safety capabilities has not even been seen by the Minister, let alone released to the public.

South Africa was promised an open, transparent and accountable nuclear procurement process and this latest bout of secrecy flies squarely in the face of government’s commitment.

It beggars belief that the nation’s greatest public expenditure programme –expected to cost a total R1 trillion – is allowed to progress without Minister Joemat-Pettersson, in whose competency it falls, not having seen critical reports that will dictate how this entire process is meant to progress.

Out of the 12 targets that the Department of Energy has set itself in terms of its nuclear procurement programme, only 3 have been achieved, 2 partially achieved and a total of 7 have not been achieved. This by any measure is a dismal failure, which will inevitably be borne by ordinary hardworking and already under pressure South Africans.

The Zuma administration needs to focus on ending the crippling energy crisis facing South Africa by completing the fourth round of the Independent Power Producers (IPP) bidding window, the introduction of the Gas Utilisation Master Plan (GUMP) and the reintroduction of the Independent Systems and Market Operator (ISMO) Bill to Parliament.

Anything short of this will continue to see South Africa being unable to get a grip on its power supply and thereby not heeding a warning from the World Bank, today, to do so.

Issued by DA