One doesn't have to look too far at what games are being played as the stakes are very high for South Africa. The Karpowership deal has raised it's ugly head yet again and the reasons are rather obvious. Having spent most of my life in Africa the one thing I have learned is the obvious is always staring at you as the people are not smart enough to come up with elaborate schemes.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe is trying to push this deal through. The deal would be for 20 years supplying 1200MW for an ever increasing price tag of R220 Billion. This price was pre the Ukraine/Russian war so one can only imagine where this price tag could end up. South Africa has no operational refineries besides SASOL who is also in a sorry economic state so all fuel will be imported. With an ever weakening rand the final tally of this deal could easily double or triple over the 20 year period.
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Instead of fixing the problems that exist the Energy minister would rather choose this route for obvious reasons as this is a cash cow for back handers which would last for 20 years.
Empty offices waiting for a deal to be signed.
The current state of the power supply in South Africa is horrendous with a report stating yesterday we can expect this to continue for the next 3 years. I disagree as I expect this to be permanent unless the Government is changed in 2024.
The one sad reality is South Africa was working on their own Nuclear energy known as the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) which was disbanded in 2010. Those scientists were scooped up by the United States on Einstein Visas and will be ready to be sold in 2027. South Africa will most likely end up buying from the people they booted out as they could not see the vision.
Could president Jacobs Zuma’s plans to strike a nuclear deal with Russia have been the real driving force behind the PBMR’s closure?
You don't have to be smart to know the real reason behind this.
The problem with Africa in general is those in charge want to do deals they can make substantial money from and are not concerned about the country. This PBMR didn't fit the agenda and would rather have at the time a Russian Company build a new Nuclear Power station as that meant a guaranteed handshake worth millions for those agreeing the deal.
We often here the term of having to "eat" when we talk about politicians which means they want money as corruption is all they know. Eskom, South Africa's SOE Power Supply has been sabotaged continuously as those involved in the Karpowership deal have backhanders worth billions if the deal goes through.
There are so many other options and the sad thing is those in power will never consider those as there is no money for them even though this would be in the best interest of the country. Having a huge contract for 20 years will have to be found from somewhere and the poor tax man will be paying for this through increased tariffs and taxes. Sadly I can see this deal happening as this story should have disappeared the moment the topic was raised 2 years ago yet we are still here.
