The sinking of the Karpowership deal makes sense. It would have been odd had the government pushed forward with it, given that this week, SA enjoyed its 200th day free from debilitating power cuts.
After energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa proclaimed that the deal between the government and Karpowership for the procurement of emergency power was “dead in the water”, the key question is: should we leave it there or demand further answers about the dubious and controversial deal pushed vociferously by former energy minister Gwede Mantashe?
In February 2020, Mantashe determined that 2,000MW of emergency generation capacity should be procured and agreed to three Turkish Karpowership projects to provide power generation capacity to SA over 20 years.
The deal was opposed by civil society due to the length of the contract and even more worrying, its environmental consequences. There was also the matter of a losing bidder for emergency power taking Mantashe to court over the deal, alleging that there was “blatant corruption” at play, linked to an associate of the former minister in court papers.
Even though the deal is now “dead in the water”, SA deserves answers as to whether there was a sinister motive behind the former minister’s ardent push for the Karpowership contract to proceed.
The only way to truly build trust in the new administration is to ensure that the deal is fully investigated and if there was indeed wrongdoing, for the law to take its course.
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