Department of Energy responds to Mail & Guardian's story: "Battle for South Africa's one trillion nuclear contract"
7 Oct 2011
The Department of Energy has noted the article published by the Mail & Guardian newspaper on 6 October 2011 on the alleged R1 trillion to be spent on the six nuclear reactors by 2030 (see here).
It must be stated categorically clear that the article does not only contain information that is misleading to the public, but is full of statements that are not true and factually incorrect. It is therefore crucial that the Department of Energy corrects this damaging and damning report by stating the facts and put things into the right perspective.
The fact of the matter is that during her engagement with the media on the occasion of the Africa Energy Ministers Conference on 15 September 2011, Minister Dipuo Peters informed the media that she has signed-off a proposal for the roll-out of the new nuclear power plants to Cabinet.
This proposal, which has been taken though interdepartmental consultations, addresses the issue of decisions that are required and the governance framework of these decisions.