Minister: Nuclear plant to be built at ‘scale, speed we can afford’

The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has stated that South Africa will only seek to build a nuclear plant at ‘a scale and speed we can afford’.

“In the long term, we need to ensure that we anchor the baseload and nuclear is an important part of that intervention. We are working on the framework for procurement because we don’t want to discredit the process through a procurement process that is not transparent,” he said.

The minister raised several concerns, stating that poorer communities are battling to keep up with the increasing cost of electricity.

“The poor and those who are located in the townships are finding it exceptionally difficult to afford the increases in electricity,” Ramokgopa said.

“The pricing and the tariff is prohibitive and a lot of our people across the length and breadth of the country are not in a position to afford electricity,” he added.

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau took time to assure South Africans that current affirmative action policies, which includes Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, will not be scrapped by the current administration.

“These are foundational principles to the establishment of the Government of National Unity. Included in there are priorities in relation to social justice, equity and redress. Therefore, these are parties that have come together on the basis of collectively addressing transformation because we have committed to redress in the foundational principles.”

Tau emphasised that economic growth and development is a key priority, saying: “This would be a focus on network industries, among others, looking at energy, looking at logistics in particular, the digital economy and other areas.

“The fact that we’ve made significant progress in that regard enables us to use that as a springboard to grow the economy focussed on industrialisation and re-industrialisation.”