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Cope: New nuclear plants will plunge SA into a Greek-style crisis

File Photo
File Photo

“R1‚810‚845‚341‚614.” That’s what you would have seen if you did a Google search on the words “South Africa Debt Clock” at 11am on Tuesday morning.

The Congress of the People on Tuesday urged SA citizens to do the search “to get an understanding of how our national debt is piling up by the minute”.

Cope’s statement was prompted by the party’s shock “at the fiscal irresponsibility of the ruling party in pushing ahead with its nuclear build programme”.

It cited Tuesday edition of The Times newspaper‚ which ran a story headlined “Nuclear power: Who’ll foot the bill?”

Contracts to build nuclear plants in SA‚ the paper reported‚ could net Russia R1‚2-trillion if it is the successful bidder.

A day earlier‚ South African Nuclear Energy Corporation dismissed the R1-trillion-plus reports‚ saying that by international comparison it is inconceivable that it could cost that much.

Cope’s Dennis Bloem said on Tuesday that “our country is on a negative watch by rating agencies…because of the speed at which the Zuma administration escalated the national debt over the last six years”.

The government under President Jacob Zuma‚ Bloem said‚ “ought to have invested the money it borrowed into projects that put people back to work”.

“Instead of creating jobs‚ it spent the money on the consumption side‚ much to the chagrin of the minister of finance at the time.

“Therefore‚ job creation did not materialise and the middle class in our country is now in decline. Tax revenue is therefore likely to decline.”

In such an economic climate‚ Cope believed‚ “the government dare not take on more debt”.

“The further massive debt that the Zuma administration is proposing to incur‚ to fund the nuclear build programme‚ is insane‚” said Bloem.

“We must not fall for such madness.

“After looking at the ‘South Africa Debt Clock’‚ citizens will agree that the president is proposing to plunge our nation into a Greek-style crisis by undertaking a nuclear build programme without clearly establishing who is going to foot the massive bill.

“Government does not have the money. It also has no capacity to borrow on the scale it is proposing.”

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