Minister of Electricity Kgosientosho Ramokgopa;
pictureMinister of Electricity and Energy Gossip Ramokgopa said he was happy to defend the ministry's determination to procure the 2,500MW nuclear power plant in the ongoing legal case brought by the Democratic Alliance (DA).
But he added a political caveat that the DA is now part of the Government of National Unity and must not forget nuclear expansion, which is part of the government's plans under the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).
“The Democratic Alliance has been opposing the procurement of nuclear weapons. [energy]”They can go away. This is a matter for the courts. We will go and explain,” Ramakhopa said on Monday at his first press conference since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his new Cabinet a week ago.
“Let me address the essential and important points raised in that question,” the Minister added.
“The Government of National Unity is not a coalition of political parties. It is the only executive branch led by President Ramaphosa. And any policy decisions adopted by the Sixth Government will be upheld into the future. I think that's important.”
Former Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe published a notice in the Government Gazette in January to go ahead with the procurement of a 2,500 megawatt nuclear power plant.
Ramokgopa, who was given powers in charge of energy by President Ramaphosa, confirmed his intention to drive the process forward, adding that procurement activities would be in line with the IRP.
“We are going ahead with it and the government through the Minister of Energy and Power will defend our position.”
He was dealing with the DA's immediate opposition at the weekend when it was reported that the government wanted to get Treasury approval by next month.
Ramokgopa said the process was progressing although the deadline communicated by his predecessor had passed.
Mantashe began laying the legal foundations for nuclear expansion four years ago when he asked South Africa's National Energy Regulator (Nersa) to approve a decision under Section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act.
The DA is asking the High Court to review the Article 34 decision.
In its founding affidavit, the group argued that the new nuclear power plant would be the “largest public procurement in South African history” and would conservatively cost at least R400 billion.
The company argued that the lawsuit did not challenge the wisdom of the nuclear procurement, but rather the procedural fairness of the minister's decision.
The DA said the first flaw was that Nersa decided to go along with the minister's decision without consulting the public.
“Nersa did so two years after the Minister of Energy originally sought Nersa's consent and after significant changes had occurred in South Africa's energy landscape.”
The second ground on which the DA challenged the decision is that the minister who made the decision was wrong: by January certain powers had been transferred to Ramokgopa by presidential decree and so the decision should have been made by Ramokgopa and not Mantashe.
“This means that the issuance of the Article 34 decision was invalid due to serious errors of law and fact, as well as being outside its powers.”
Ramakgopa did not point this out.
However, he said the government was mindful of the cost implications of the initiative and the impossibility of carrying out the construction outside Eskom's balance sheet.
“The framework recognises the fact that Eskom's balance sheet is weak and Eskom does not have the means to finance it, so it needs to find special financing instruments for it.”
“Obviously, we have to say who is going to be the operator. I can't predict what's going to happen, but I can tell you right now, it's Eskom. So it needs to be managed. That framework will answer questions like, is it affordable?”
“So I'm not going ahead and I'm going to let them do that. It should have been done by March or April. We're past March and April now.”
He stressed that he intends to respect the announced deadlines.
“Now that they're on our side, if we set a date, we're going to meet that date. The credibility of this process is important to anything we do. It's important that we make a commitment to the public about a deadline.”
DA energy spokesman Kevin Mileham said: Mail & Guardian“Well, they have a lot of explaining to do.”
Ramakopa is named as the first defendant in the prosecution's court documents.
His plea is due to be filed within the next two weeks and the case is scheduled to go to trial in mid-October.
“The documents received from the companies so far indicate that little new information has been provided to enable Nersa to make a considered decision in August 2023 on the reservation conditions that Nersa placed in August 2021 to consent to Gwede Mantashe's decision to procure the new 2,500MW nuclear power plant,” Mileham said.
Those conditions included a detailed cost and demand analysis, Mileham said.
“Instead, Nersa appears to have relied on the original information provided in 2021.
“Furthermore, Nersa [in August 2021] The decision should include a requirement that procurement be carried out under an “engineering, procurement and construction model” rather than piecemeal contracts.
Mr Mileham said this was ignored in the final decision.