Daily Dispatch
Motive for JZ’s nuclear push?
YESTERDAY, the Sunday Times revealed that President Jacob Zuma met a top Russian delegation under direct orders from President Vladimir Putin just before the cabinet was reshuffled.
Eye-opening, but hardly surprising. Reports have come out with increasing frequency relating to Zuma’s close association with Putin, Zuma’s visits to Russia, SA’s secretive agreements with the Russian energy agency Rosatom (signed by the ex ex energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and mistakenly revealed by Rosatom on their website), and the bid by our government to fast-track through parliament (and without scrutiny) procurement deals for an arcane nuclear project worth as much as our national budget.
In April, Earthlife Africa and the SA Faith Communities’ Environment Institute succeeded in having the procurement and related agreements with the Russian Federation reversed in court. But the ruling did not stop the programme in its entirety.
It’s a maniacal scheme to be sure – so costly that projections point to it bankrupting this country into failed state status. This is mainly because by the time all the power stations are rolled out across our countryside, each complete with a team of Russian operators, our already pitiful growth of 1% will have accelerated into reverse, along with development.
At that stage, there will be no need for new power stations – ones that incidentally already have bad reputations elsewhere in the world. And our bankrupted country will be incapable of digging itself out of a deep, dark pit of debt.
But such has been the determination of the driver of this project to turn it into reality that two objecting finance ministers and a deputy have been swept from their positions as financial watchmen.
Simultaneously our government has quietly sought to suffocate the development of green energy by introducing obstructive legislation. A heinous move considering the promise this sector holds for small business and grassroots job creation.
Fast-forward to the present and spy boss David Mahlobo is inexplicably included into our president’s intimate relationship with Putin and the Russian nuclear agencies. After which, Mahlobo is appointed chief battering ram for nuclear roll-out.
The Sunday Times’ report poses three questions. First, is it possible that someone other than the Guptas is now directing the affairs of this country?
Second, do these events have anything to do with Putin holding a 19% stake in SA’s biggest dedicated uranium mine, Shiva, owned by the Gupta’s mining firm, Tegeta Exploration and Resources, and in which Duduzane Zuma has been the biggest single shareholder? Come the nuclear deal, this mine will be in prime position to supply the yellowcake needed to generate nuclear energy – doubtless for a monstrous mark-up as happened in the sale of coal by the Guptas to Eskom.
There is a final question in this unlovely scenario. Why would our president be prepared to go to such dangerous extremes?
Surely he doesn’t need more money. Is the only explanation for his bizarrely reckless behaviour simply blind fear of a foreign leader well versed in the tactics of the KGB?