Nuclear deal with Reddy’s son queried
QUESTIONS have been raised over the “highly irregular” contract, worth millions of rand, that tycoon Vivian Reddy’s son, Shantan, received for the procurement of a nuclear build programme management system.
This comes after the government maintained that no deal had been entered into.
Investigative newspaper, The Mail and Guardian reported yesterday that Shantan’s company Empire Trading, received a R171 million contract, contained in a notice on the department of energy’s website.
Vivian Reddy is a close ally of President Jacob Zuma.
The DA’s energy affairs spokesman, Gordon Mackay raised questions over the awarding of the bid and said: “The awarding of the contract to Reddy’s company is highly irregular considering that both the Minister of Energy and the Deputy President have been at pains to assure South Africans that no deal has been concluded. If there is no nuclear deal, why the need to procure a R171m system to manage it?”
He said the contract with Reddy had been awarded on the back of an as yet unidentified tender in the Free State and not publicly advertised on the department’s website as was standard practice.
“This raises serious questions surrounding the tender process that was followed, not least of which is what knowledge the minister had of the deal with Reddy,” said Mackay.
He said he would be submitting questions in Parliament on the reasons for the deviation from the department’s standard procurement processes; the basis on which Reddy’s company, an entity with no experience in the nuclear field, had been awarded the contract; whether the minister had any involvement in, or knowledge of, the contract; and why a contract for the management of the new build programme had been awarded if, by the minster’s account, no deal had been concluded.
“Moreover, the development ads to the growing body of evidence suggesting that the primary motivation for Zuma’s pursuit of the ill-advised and unaffordable nuclear deal, is to enrich his cronies and fund his patronage network,” he said.