Johannesburg - Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson faces another round of tough questions in Parliament today on the nuclear build programme.
Joemat-Pettersson has hardly escaped questions on the nuclear build programme in Parliament since it was announced by President Jacob Zuma three years ago.
She will be part of the economics cluster of ministers responding to questions on a range of issues, including nuclear, in the National Council of Provinces in the next two days.
Tomorrow Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel will also answer questions on South Africa’s controversial nuclear programme.
The opposition parties have been asking Joemat-Pettersson to come clean on the project.
One of the key questions has been on the funding for nuclear power when the government has not given an indication where the money will come from.
In his medium-term budget policy statement last week, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene was non-committal on the funding for nuclear energy.
However, he told journalists ahead of the statement that preparatory work had started, but did not indicate the detailed work that had been undertaken.
He said R200 million had been committed to the preparatory work.
A few weeks ago the Department of Energy said the procurement process had been postponed to the end of this financial year. This was due to outstanding work, including the funding model for nuclear.
The shifting of the deadline for the procurement process came after Joemat-Pettersson said in her budget vote speech in May that procurement would start during the second half of this year.
She also said the winning company would be announced before the end of the year.
It has been said the nuclear build programme will cost between R500 billion and R1 trillion.
But the government has been coy on costs, saying this would disrupt the bidding process.
It said it would wait for the bidders to reveal their prices first, in the bidding phase, before any figure could be made public.
The department also said despite the delay in the procurement process, it would stick to the deadline of 2030 to complete the construction of the nuclear reactors.
Joemat-Pettersson has also been accused of keeping the information on the nuclear build programme out of Parliament.
Opposition parties have warned that they could not afford to have such a massive programme kept under wraps.
Today it will be their turn to turn up the heat on Joemat-Pettersson on the programme.
The government has insisted that it will build nuclear power plants that will be within its means and easy to afford.
One of the key questions to Patel is on job creation, localisation and long-term benefits of the reactors to the country.
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