The government will start renegotiating its inter-governmental agreements on nuclear co-operation with five vendor nations from next month, Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said.
This comes after the government decided last week not to appeal a high court ruling that effectively halted procurement of new nuclear plants, which the government says are needed to add 9600 megawatts of power to the electricity grid.
“We are starting with the work in June,” Kubayi told a media briefing after her budget vote speech to MPs.
“We are restarting the process. We are signing new agreements. For me, it does not make sense to take a 1995 agreement because what the court has said is those agreements need to come to Parliament.
"The five of them – China, Russia, France, US, South Korea – we will renegotiate, sign new agreements and submit to Parliament. The process would start in June.”
She noted that some of the accords were broader than just nuclear co-operation, adding: “We see it as an opportunity for us to renegotiate the broader issues of energy in those agreements.”