‘Secret’ R1-trillion nuclear deal protests

SUNNINGHILL – Right 2 Know campaigners protested outside Eskom offices in Megawatt Park against the R1 trillion nuclear deal.

Members of the Right 2 Know Campaign protested outside the Eskom offices in Sunninghill on 22 February in order to voice their discontent with the planned R1 trillion nuclear procurement deal.

General Moyo’s poster references the national budget speech, which was on the same day as the protest.

About 15 Right to Know campaigners spent hours outside the entrance to the Eskom offices at Megawatt Park on Maxwell Drive, singing struggle songs and holding banners and posters protesting the deal.

‘Stop nuclear corruption Mr President’ reads one of the handmade signs from the protest.

“We want to voice our unhappiness about the secrecy and potential for corruption that surrounds this [nuclear deal],” explained Carina Conradie, an access to information organiser for Right 2 Know.

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“The lack of public participation and the secretiveness regarding official documents are very concerning to us.”

General Moyo of the Right 2 Know Campaign, Tito Zwane (middle, wearing glasses) General Rakau and Karabo Rakgolela sign Right 2 Know’s memorandum.

The controversial plan aims to build several new nuclear power plants in South Africa in order to supply the country with over 9 000 megawatts of energy, with the cost estimated at anywhere between R500 billion and R1 trillion to complete the project, which is roughly the size of the national budget.

‘We demand accountable energy’ and ‘Nuclear deal is [for] Skelms!’ read some of the protest signs.

The government has been silent on how the deal would be funded, and reports detailing studies into the cost have been officially classified since the deal was first announced in 2013. Critics have also pointed out the potential for large-scale corruption that could result from such a project.

“We aren’t necessarily against the use of nuclear power,” Conradie clarified.

“But renewable energy would be cheaper, and provide an estimated 200 000 jobs for South Africans.

“We want the process to be transparent and inclusive, and one that the people of South Africa are part of. As my colleagues are saying [in the protest chants] ‘no decisions about us, without us’.”

The Right 2 Know campaigners stand outside the entrance to Eskom at the Megawatt Park in Sunninghill.

The protesters, represented by Right 2 Know provincial coordinator General Moyo, handed over a memorandum of demands during the protest, which was accepted by General Rakau, the head of security at the offices, Tito Zwane, the general manager of human resources and Karabo Rakgolela, in charge of Eskom real estate on behalf of Eskom.

“I will not comment on this memorandum now,” said Rakau to the protesters.

“But I will make sure it gets to the right people.”

General Moyo, the provincial coordinator at Right 2 Know, reads out the memorandum handed over to Eskom representatives.

The Right 2 Know protest was just one of those organised by social justice organisations across the country in protest of the deal.

Other protests included one held by Earthlife Africa Johannesburg in Braamfontein, The Southern African Faith communities Environment Institute (SAFCEI) protest outside the Department of Engergy in Pretoria and an organised march on Parliament and the Cape High Court in Cape Town.

The protests were planned for today both because it is the same day that the 2017 national budget is announced in Parliament, and because today is the beginning of a court case in the Western Cape High Court to decide whether the Department of Engery’s 2013 decision to procure 9,600 MW of nuclear power should be set aside.