Now Zuma ducks the tough nuke questions

05 October 2014 - 02:06 By BIANCA CAPAZORIO and JAN-JAN JOUBERT
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DEAL OR NOT? President Jacob Zuma
DEAL OR NOT? President Jacob Zuma

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma and Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson this week continued to dodge questions about South Africa's nuclear energy deal with Russia, leaving energy department officials to bumble their way through a media conference.

On Friday, more than a day after Business Times sent specific questions aimed at clarifying Zuma's exact role in the nuclear power deal, his spokesman Mac Maharaj issued a general statement and then could not be located to answer specific questions about the transaction.

The Sunday Times had asked Maharaj whether Zuma had discussed the nuclear deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin on his recent state visit to Russia.

It also asked whether he had told Joemat-Pettersson to sign a deal with the Russians during her recent visit to Vienna, and for clarity on Zuma's exact past, present and future role in the nuclear negotiations.

Maharaj's statement merely claimed that "media reports that Zuma has negotiated or will negotiate and conclude nuclear power agreements alone are incorrect".

"The president works with [the] cabinet on the matter," Maharaj said before confirming that the deal had been signed in Vienna.

"All is on course and there is nothing untoward with regard to the country's nuclear energy programme," he said.

On Wednesday, department officials, including acting director-general Wolsey Barnard, addressed a media conference on what they said were misunderstandings about the deal.

But, despite the fact that Joemat-Pettersson's signature appears on the deal documentation, she was not in the room.

Asked about the minister's whereabouts, Barnard said "Well, today is Wednesday and Wednesday is the day on which the cabinet meets."

Last month identical press statements were sent out by the Department of Energy and by Russia's Rosatom state-owned atomic energy corporation detailing an agreement for Russia to supply eight water-pressurised reactors with a combined capacity of 9.6GW of power by 2030.

The Russian announcement prompted speculation about Zuma's direct involvement in the deal - with some media reports indicating that he was negotiating directly with Putin and had pressured Joemat-Pettersson into signing the deal.

On Wednesday, Barnard back-peddled, saying the agreement was nothing more than window-shopping, comparable to that undertaken with countries including South Korea, Japan, China, the US and France before the procurement of everything necessary for a "complete nuclear value chain".

Joemat-Pettersson's spokes man, Zodwa Visser, said that though the minister had known about the briefing it had not been intended to be at ministerial level.

"It was done by the technical team to clear up the distortions and miscommunication that followed the initial announcements," she said.

DA spokesman on energy Lance Greyling has asked that Joemat-Pettersson appear before a parliamentary committee to explain the deal.

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