Power woes: Which cadres will oversee nuclear power safety?

Let there be no mistake, we are in desperate need of an economically viable and sustainable solution to overcome our current and future electricity supply woes.

Despite countless warnings over the past three decades to government about a potential energy crisis, the situation has gone from good to bad and from bad to very close to collapse. This monumental failing by our government has already resulted in massive financial losses, a shrinking economic base and a rise in unemployment, not to mention the ever-increasing costs to keep our economy and our homes going.

Add that to the messy Covid regulations – and eish! As our disastrous national power provider, Eskom, has consistently proven its inability to keep the country’s lights on and drive our economy and industry, more and more whispers of a nuclear solution are being heard.

A failed Eskom implies a shrinking economy. A shrinking economy implies a failed economy, a decreased manufacturing capability and an increase in unemployment, along with more costly imports. But fortunately for our top elite cadres (the bourgeoisie of South Africa), this opens more options for them to milk the dying cow.

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A nuclear option to overcome government’s great energy neglect will merely open a new revenue stream for our top elite to steal from. And which country has already been quietly earmarked to be appointed: China, Russia, Germany, France or the US? Is the continued failure of Eskom something our homegrown, super wealthy bourgeoisie planned?

Is this to give the government a preplanned reason to force a nuclear power deal? Is this why influential people are already looking for and trying to buy uranium mines in North Africa? Do they have an inside track on supplying the
uranium to the future nuclear power stations the government is pushing?

Is the proposed plan to go nuclear the real reason why the Turkish solution of “powerships”, able to provide an immediate solution to our power problems, was discarded? Or were the bribes simply too small? There are many other challenging areas that, if not correctly managed and controlled, will result in uncontrolled chaos, corruption, and disaster.

For a start, there are those in Eskom and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa that want to punish loyal consumers with a 20% price hike. Punishment will also be meted out to those who have tried to minimise their reliance on Eskom by reverting to solar power. By implication, they believe the sun’s energy isn’t free to those who use solar power. Huh? How is that possible? Will we soon have to pay for the air we breathe as well?

But let’s start with a basic yet serious concern that every patriotic South African voter has: corruption. As our new, yet inoperable coal-fired power stations have taught us, corruption is endemic in the DNA of our government.

How will contracts be awarded and which ministerial family members will benefit from the construction contracts? Has a special “corruption fund” been set aside to pay the bribes we have become so used to? Quality control seems to be an area that our government gives little attention to nowadays. If the government cannot even fix potholes, what guarantees will we have that there will be no Chernobyl meltdown?

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Which politically connected family will oversee this critical aspect? How does the government plan to get rid of nuclear waste or is the plan to simply just dump it in rivers close by? Or has a politically connected contractor for the nuclear waste disposal programme already been identified and promised a pre-development down payment?

Given that we have very little to no effective law enforcement in South Africa, what about the ongoing theft of anything that is not bolted down? Who is going to police this? Or will it simply become another free-for-all as far as criminals are concerned? I fear this will be an interesting development to keep a watchful eye on.

Another area our government has demonstrated its total incompetence is its inability to oversee critical maintenance. How will our nuclear infrastructure be maintained and by whom? Or will it be left to those who have a proven track record of incompetence?

The end result may be disaster and may just result in all of us glowing in the dark due to some radiation or contamination. (If that were to happen, then government would be forced to discard its populist view of racism as we would all be glowing).

There are many more questions regarding our government’s desire to “go nuclear”. Unless the process of going
nuclear is totally transparent, overseen by specialists as opposed to incompetents, and strictly controlled and overseen, it will likely bring us a disaster of nuclear proportions.

• Mashaba is a political advisor