Donwald Pressly
South Africa would be forging ahead with its nuclear build programme and wanted to establish the extent of gas trapped in the shale in the Karoo, it emerged during yesterday’s Energy Department budget vote in Parliament.
Energy Minister Dipuo Peters was asked whether any parties in the outside world were disturbed by South Africa’s planned nuclear energy expansion programme.
She said there were always people who “get the jitters” but the country had recently opened up the Koeberg plant for inspection to the international nuclear review mission. This indicated its willingness to be transparent.
The minister said the ANC would not go back on its word. In line with the integrated resource plan, which recognised nuclear energy “as an integral part of the national energy mix, the new nuclear build programme will add 9 600 megawatts to the national grid by 2023”.
She also said: “Nuclear power carries tremendous benefits for South Africa in terms of the lowest clean baseload levelised cost, alignment with our beneficiation strategy, industrialisation and … leapfrogging South Africa into the knowledge economy and massive industrial development.”
Director-general Nelisiwe Magubane emphasised that the department would continue working towards the roll-out of the nuclear programme, including reaching final decisions concerning the procurement of nuclear power plants.
Freedom Front Plus MP Anton Alberts said the planned nuclear energy programme could be “so huge” that it would deal a blow to the Treasury.
He said it created the impression the government wanted to start “an expensive public expenditure programme just to gain access to state funds”.
With regard to the shale gas controversy, the minister said the next step was to establish how much of the resource was available and whether it was viable to exploit.
Peters also said there was a programme to eliminate “un-electrified islands” in municipal areas. This phenomenon had arisen from “issues of political affiliation in KwaZulu-Natal”.
When pressed on what this political affiliation meant, she said that it applied to municipalities controlled by the IFP.
Apparently this meant that in the roll-out of electricity infrastructure in these opposition-controlled municipalities, which made up about half of KwaZulu-Natal until the 2010 municipal election, electrification had been deliberately done to favour IFP supporters, while leaving supporters of the ANC and other political parties without electricity connections.
IFP spokesman Koos van der Merwe could not be reached for comment.
The minister said in briefing notes to journalists that in 2011 there were about 15 000 households in this category.
“To date, 10 200 have been electrified, and the elimination of these so-called islands has affirmed that, working together, we will be able to improve the lives of all South Africans, irrespective of their political affiliation,” she said.
Deputy Energy Minister Barbara Thompson said she did not wish to name the political party involved. “There are political challenges where there are islands, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, without having to mention the political party involved.”
She later acknowledged that KwaZulu-Natal had been under IFP rule “and the challenges arise out of that”.
Peters said the matter was historical and went back to the municipalities ruled by the IFP. “People were seen either as ANC or [belonging to an] other party,” said the minister, adding that “electricity doesn’t have a membership card”.