Questions for the inquiry
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED? Jacob Zuma had a vested interest in the nuclear build coming to fruition.
The testimonies of Mcebisi Jonas and Vytjie Mentor at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture have also referred to the proposed nuclear build and how this was influencing efforts to control state institutions.
Jonas’ testimony reminded the nation why president Jacob Zuma was so keen to have a compliant ally as finance minister. He posited that the reason for the hostility towards Nhlanhla Nene was that he was blocking the implementation of a nuclear deal with Russia.
The inquiry will be probing this further, a welcome development given that so many unanswered questions remain. The construction of new nuclear power stations was first mooted around 2010 in response to electricity shortages and projected increased future demand. But the idea never gained traction when it became clear that electricity demand was growing less than expected.
But Zuma’s administration persisted with the idea. It soon became clear that Zuma favoured a Russian bid and in 2014, Rosatom announced it had secured the rights to build the new plants.
It was a move with massive long-term financial implications. And the nuclear build soon came to be viewed as the most audacious example of state capture.
One of the questions the inquiry needs to answer is: why, given that the programme was massively tainted by controversy and was deemed unaffordable, did Zuma doggedly pursue it. Some reasons are already known. In 2010, a consortium that included the Gupta family and Duduzane Zuma bought the Dominion uranium mine, near Klerksdorp in North West. The transaction baffled mining sector observers; in an era of weak global uranium demand, Dominion, later renamed Shiva, was considered a poor asset.
Mentor’s testimony specifically stated that the Guptas already considered themselves the exclusive uranium suppliers. Because of his family association, Zuma had a vested interest in the nuclear build coming to fruition.
It was also odd that the transaction involved Rosatom’s mining subsidiary.
What were the exact details surrounding the mine purchase and what was Rosatom’s role in this transaction? and
Did Zuma or other high-ranking officials unduly pressure funding bodies to grant a loan for the mine acquisition?
Zuma’s many meetings with his Russian counterparts resulted in Rosatom inexplicably receiving preferential status.
Why did then energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson sign an agreement she must have known to be irregular? and
Which officials were instrumental in promoting this agreement, and who instructed them? Were two finance ministers and a string of ministers dismissed because they were opposed to the nuclear build, or not pushing it vigorously enough? Hartmut Winkler is a professor of physics at the University of Johannesburg. This article was first published in Conversation and has been edited. The