Ramaphosa must explain appointment of Mabuza as envoy to Russia

14 May 2018

The DA notes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of Deputy President, David Mabuza, as his special envoy to Russia.

With this appointment, it appears Ramaphosa is following former President Jacob Zuma’s lead after he appointed former Energy and Intelligence Minister David Mahlobo as his liaison to Russia.

That culminated in the revamping of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to try and “force in nuclear”. The ANC government has irrationally pursued nuclear for a long period of time, beginning with the signing of the controversial intergovernmental agreements linked to the R1.2 trillion nuclear deal.

Parliament was told in March that Ramaphosa’s new Cabinet was reconsidering the IRP. Ramaphosa himself even stated that we have no money to go for a nuclear plant build programme at the World Economic Forum in January this year.

This appeared to signal a rejection of any Nuclear Deal which Zuma has been pushing for, but the President’s latest move suggests otherwise.

It is important that Ramaphosa sheds light on his appointment of Mabuza to this new role and the brief that he has been given as this could likely determine whether South Africa adopts an expensive nuclear energy build as part of the IRP.

The country cannot afford nuclear energy and the DA supports cleaner and cheaper alternatives as part of the country’s energy mix.

Issued by Tandeka Gqada, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Energy, 14 May 2018