While the government has maintained that it has not entered into any nuclear deals‚ reports of an open tender and a clinched deal of a multibillion-rand nuclear programme have surfaced.

In a story published in the Sowetan on Friday‚ Phumzile Tshelane‚ the head of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation‚ said a nuclear tender was open to all bidders prepared to manufacture locally and share technology.

Tshelane reiterated that Russia is not the frontrunner in the bidding‚ despite reports that after meetings between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Jacob Zuma‚ Rosatom had been considered the leading candidate to build 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity.

“Russia is not the frontrunner. It never was‚” Tshelane said‚ stressing that the tender was an “open race”.

In another report‚ in the Mail & Guardian‚ on Friday‚ Shantan Reddy‚ the son of Zuma’s friend Vivian Reddy‚ is said to have clinched a landmark deal for the country’s multibillion-rand nuclear programme.

“Details of the R171-million contract for the procurement of the nuclear build programme management system emerged after an innocuous-looking entry appeared on the department of energy’s website‚” the newspaper said.

Shantan Reddy’s company‚ according to the M& G‚ is listed under the category of “awarded bids”. – TMG Digital