At a meeting in 2017, Russian and American activists Vladimir Slivyak and Chris Williams share their experiences with dangerous nuclear power, with South African communities.
April is not only significant to South Africa as Freedom Month. This is also the month that Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) commemorate the court victory that exposed the severity of the corruption within the State and halted government’s “illegal and unconstitutional” R1-trillion nuclear energy deal with Russia. As far as we are concerned, 26 April 2017 is one of the most important days in our country’s post-apartheid history – at the time, economists predicted that it would bankrupt the country. Since then, the Zondo Commission has exposed even more, but that is an OpEd for another day.
Apart from revealing the depths of the rot within government and how far members of State were willing to go to dupe the public, this was also the start of an intense battle, which continues to rage on between public interests versus those of government and corporate, to protect citizens’ right to be consulted on huge capital spends, especially in energy procurement that may affect them.
Fast forward to 2022, as the world braces for the intensifying impacts of climate change – the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal is clear evidence of the reality of the escalating climate emergency. Yet, South Africa is still saddled with a government that pushes a climate-blind energy agenda onto its people, and oftentimes is attempting to do so without meaningful consultation.
** Read the full opinion piece by Francesca de Gasparis and Makoma Lekalakala on: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-05-02-five-years-after-the-illegal-nuclear-deal-was-nuked-we-are-still-struggling-with-a-broken-energy-system/
See more on the topic of nuclear energy in the links, below:
- https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-12-12-six-compelling-arguments-why-nuclear-energy-is-spectacularly-unfit-to-power-a-just-transition/
- https://za.boell.org/en/2021/11/05/neither-climate-nor-jobs
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