ANC allies alarmed by ‘big rush’ nuclear deal
RUSSIANS this week trumpeted the signing of a deal on nuclear co-operation, in their keenness to win first place in the race to build new nuclear power stations for SA.
State nuclear firm Rosatom’s statement on Monday raised speculation that President Jacob Zuma had sealed some sort of agreement last month while visiting Russia for a week-long trip that was pitched as being mostly for him to hold “lowlevel meetings” and to rest.
The announcement alarmed the ANC’s allies at home. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its influential affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), raised concern about the speed with which the government moved on nuclear procurement.
SA’s relationship with Russia has grown rapidly, although that is not reflected in bilateral trade, which stood at less than $1bn in 2012.
The ANC signed a party-to-party memorandum of understanding with United Russia, the party led by President Vladimir Putin. Although it is not unusual for the ANC to have allies among other political parties — it has ties across the globe — its relationship with United Russia raised eyebrows when the pact was signed late last year.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday that the agreement was in line with resolutions adopted at the party’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane.
According to the resolution, a deliberate effort should be made to strengthen relations with all “progressive like-minded parties”. Also, relations with other ruling parties in Africa “that might not share the same vision with the ANC must be promoted”. These relations should be based on “common interests”.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said co-operation with United Russia was in the spirit of this resolution.
Mr Mantashe said “the ANC did not procure” for government projects when asked whether the Russian agreement had been discussed by the ruling party.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Tuesday the federation was opposed to nuclear.
“We are extremely worried about the big rush, which leaves us (the alliance) behind, and an overwhelming majority of the people behind.
“We have also raised issues about safety and cost,” he said.
The question was why SA was so eager to spend more than R1-trillion on its nuclear build, while facing critical challenges such as unemployment, inequality and poverty, Mr Vavi asked.
Cosatu was worried and hoped that “in this big rush” the Public Finance Management Act would be adhered to. “(We hope) … that in the future we will not hear scandals about the shortcuts and the sidelining of the procedures.”
NUM general secretary Frans Baleni — the union that largely organises workers at Eskom and is the majority union at the country’s nuclear plant, Koeberg — said in terms of the constitution there had to be transparency, fairness, competitiveness and cost-effectiveness.
“We are not aware if this has been followed in the so-called deal,” he said. The cost was nonsensical, as Medupi and Kusile, coal-fired stations under construction, combined cost less to generate the same amount of electricity.
“It just doesn’t make sense and we know that expenditure of this nature starts small and are underbudgeted and they go way above and then we talk about economic creativity, meaning corruption. There is a high potential for corruption to go out of hand.”
A further issue for the NUM was safety and the lack of a policy framework in SA to deal with the management of nuclear waste.
The National Development Plan, which the government has committed to drive over the next five years, also did not promote nuclear, he said. “We have got 48-billion tons of coal reserves which can take us to another 300 years. As a developing country you cannot walk away from such resources.”
Mr Baleni too expressed concern about the haste with which the agreement was announced.
The NUM was aware that the Russians had been in SA recently, “camping, wanting desperately to make an announcement” but this did not happen.
The South African Communist Party is set to hold a central committee meeting at the weekend during which it is scheduled to discuss energy-related issues.