ANC drops Zuma’s nuclear plans – and embraces renewable energy instead

Staff Reporter

The ANC’s election manifesto for 2019 has gone big on renewable energy – with zero mention of the country’s previous nuclear plans.

Nuclear energy emerged as a major topic over the last few years of the Jacob Zuma administration, becoming a point of contention as the South African government appeared to push through a R1 trillion-plus nuclear energy plan that the country could simply not afford.

The former president wanted to build as many as eight nuclear reactors, which would have the capacity to generate 9,600 megawatts of energy.

However, the ANC, under president Cyril Ramaphosa, has all but abandoned these plans, and is now pushing hard for renewable energy in its place.

What the ANC proposes for renewable energy

Previous election manifestos have not touched on energy production in any real detail, though the 2014 manifesto gave at least two nods to bringing nuclear energy into the