Many South African were worried that Russians could become a bit pushy about previously agreed nuclear deals as the BRICS Summit is currently ongoing in South Africa. Putin and Ramaphosa have now discussed the matter and it seems the SA government is holding firm.
Nuclear deal: Ramaphosa remains firm against Putin
On Thursday night, Ramaphosa and Putin sat down for wide-ranging talks. With years of talk about “the Russian nuclear deal” and the way it might bankrupt SA, locals have been seeking to see if Putin would “allow” a backtrack on any deal put in place by former president Jacob Zuma.
Since Zuma was ousted by Ramaphosa and co, the ANC has spoken on a number of events about how a nuclear deal is not going to occur in any form or type until the nation can afford it. The social gathering additionally admitted that right now, there’s positively no cash for further nuclear.
According to Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko, no final conclusion was reached on the matter during the latest talks with Putin.
“The issue of nuclear expansion was discussed, as it relates to our broader energy mix. The president reiterated that South Africa can only afford it at an appropriate time, and at a pace and scale it could afford,” Diko told Fin24.
Russia had been competing with other countries to build the new plants that would provide 9.6 gigawatts of energy. Russia looked to have won the deal but questions were also asked as to why the government would create more nuclear plants instead of focussing on renewable energy sources.
It is reported that Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom would have been the company carrying out the construction.
The real ammunition that the SA government has when arguing its case to Russia is a judgement from the Western Cape High Court in April 2017. According to the court, some of the state’s decisions around nuclear procurement had been unlawful. This essentially made whatever contract that did exist fall away.
Energy Minister Jeff Radebe echoed those calls back in June.
“That question [nuclear deal] was decided by the high court in the Western Cape last year, where the submission of the intergovernmental agreement of Russia, the United States and South Korea was tested in court. The court decided the submission was unconstitutional, unlawful and set it aside.”
Well, while Donald Trump might be Putin’s puppet it seems that our government certainly doesn’t fall into the same category.
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