Court ruling on Nuclear Deal “a victory for democracy”

Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA) and the Southern African Faith Communities' Environment Institute (SAFCEI) bought a case against the Government in 2016 about the process surrounding the procurement of 9.6 GW of additional nuclear capacity.

 

This week (on Wednesday 26 April 2017), the Court ruled in favour of ELA and SAFCEI on all aspects of the process that were raised and awarded them costs.

 

“Both SAFCEI and ELA are small organizations, with a handful of people working tirelessly over the last few years on this issue. Despite all the high level issues of state capture and patronage politics, the Courts are still standing up for due process and the need to have energy planning done in a transparent and consultative manner,” says a member of Project 90 by 2030’s policy and research team, Richard Halsey.

 

The full ruling needs to be reviewed to determine all the details, but he says the key points that stand out are that critical components of the procurement process to date were deemed “unlawful and unconstitutional” and have been “set aside”.

 

These include:

1. The agreements with Russia, the USA and South Korea, in light of illegitimate process in their making.
2. The determinations made in 2015 and 2016 by the Minister of Energy in relation to the requirement for, and procurement of, new nuclear generation capacity in South Africa. (This is includes moving the responsibility of the nuclear programme to Eskom without parliamentary debate).
3. In context, the continuation of the process to procure nuclear (i.e. the requests for proposals and requests for information) have been set aside, as they relate directly to the determinations mentioned above.

 

“There was also poetic justice in that soon after the ruling was read, signalling a much needed step toward protecting parliamentary function in energy planning, the heavens opened bringing much needed rain across Cape Town,” says Halsey.