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I have today written to the Speaker of Parliament to call for an urgent debate on government’s intended Nuclear Fleet Build Programme (NFBP).

This was done under rules allowing for debate on ‘matters of urgent public importance’. Parliament must have the opportunity to reverse the silence on this matter.

Strangely, neither the President nor the Minister of Finance saw fit to mention the largest ever procurement in South African history in the State of the Nation Address or the Budget Speech.

This is despite a surreptitious R300 billion allocation appearing in the 2012 Budget Review. There has been no debate in Parliament and no opportunity for the public to scrutinise a nuclear programme that will have a very real impact on all of our lives.

Not only will it cost nearly a third of our annual budget, but there are serious safety and environmental concerns to consider.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters yesterday stressed that the South African government would not stipulate from where the nuclear energy technology that could be used in a 9,600 MW fleet of nuclear reactors would be sourced.

The programme is apparently in its ‘final stages’. As such, the public should already know far more than what government is willing to disclose to us.

The Democratic Alliance will not allow government’s nuclear plans to be executed under this cloud of secrecy. A trajectory of silence and intrigue has become an all-too-familiar characteristic of the current administration.

Our democracy has been tainted by the crookedness of the Arms Deal and the bulldozing of open access to information through the Secrecy Bill. These developments raise concerns that a way will be paved for further abuse in nuclear procurement.

All we know about the nuclear build programme so far is that Thyspunt is the preferred location; that bidding is meant to start this year; and that Areva, the notorious French nuclear company, purportedly leads the bidding pack.

Areva has recently been the subject of an article in The Economist entitled ‘A tale of spies, uranium and bad management’. The company, formally known as Areva-Electricite de France, has reportedly told Reuters that it planned to bid to build nuclear reactors in South Africa, possibly in partnership with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC).

While this may be politically desirable for South African elites, Areva is less than credible, and China’s purported financial might is built on seriously fragile foundations.

At the end of last year, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe assured Parliament that the tendering process for the nuclear fleet build programme would be managed “in a manner that would leave no grey areas or dark corners”.

Unfortunately, the grey areas and dark corners are encroaching rapidly on our young democracy.

My considered view is that this matter is of sufficient magnitude and of such serious nature that it requires Parliament’s immediate attention. It is also a matter of recurrence, given that the contracts for Medupi power station were administered under a cloud of secrecy, where only two companies were invited to bid, one of which had ties to Chancellor House.

It is unforeseeable that these nuclear plans can be dealt with by some other means in the near future. These points satisfy the criteria for granting a request for urgent debate as per the rules of Parliament, and we appeal to the Speaker to do the right thing.