Fears are growing in South Africa that agreements to build nuclear power plants that could be the most expensive procurement in the country’s history will be made behind closed doors, without the necessary public scrutiny.

Among those voicing concern, two government sources say the Treasury is not being included in procurement discussions, despite the massive budgetary implications of a project that experts say may cost as much as $100 billion.

Construction on the first plant is due to start next year, breakneck speed compared with the years of regulatory and environmental checks for nuclear projects in countries such as Britain and the United States.

The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, believes the pace of the deal will prevent proper analysis before contracts are signed and huge sums of money change hands.

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Johannesburg – Southern African energy ministers said on Friday that the region would achieve energy sufficiency by 2019, wiping out the present shortfall of 8 247 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

They said that the projects for new power generators already under way would produce an additional 24 062 MW of electricity by 2019. This, plus the rehabilitation of existing power plants, would create a surplus of about 15%.

Zimbabwean Minister of Energy and Power Development, Samuel Undenge, announced this after a meeting of Southern African Development Community (‘SADC) energy ministers.

They said in a statement that they expected 70% of the 24 062 MW of new generation capacity to be produced from renewable energy sources – hydro, wind and solar.

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While the cost of electricity is a constant bugbear in many countries, South Africans face a bigger problem: keeping the lights on. These blackouts prompted Cape Town native Charlotte Slingsby to seek out a solution after her family home was found to be unsuitable for solar panels.

The result was Moya (wind in the Xhosa language), a new energy generation system: sheets of plastic have wave-like filaments attached that capture tiny amounts of wind energy that can then be stored in a battery.

“We need an independent solution for today,” Slingsby said. “You see a city which functions on electricity which just falls apart, from the most basic things like opening a door [or] an electric gate. You can’t even take your car out of the garage.”

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CAPE TOWN, Jul 28 2015 (IPS) – Anti-nuclear energy activists are up in arms, and have taken to vigils outside South Africa’s parliament in Cape Town to protest against President Jacob Zuma’s push for nuclear development.

The protest has been building since September 2014 when Zuma struck a deal with Russia’s Rossatom to build up to eight nuclear power stations in South Africa. The stations would cost the country around 1 trillion South African rands (84 billion dollars).

As the protests mount, the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI), an interdenominational faith-based environment initiative led by Bishop Geoff Davies, has said the government’s nuclear policy is not only foolish but immoral.

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