Hundreds march against nuclear deal

Hundreds of people marched through the Johannesburg CBD today against the government’s proposed nuclear deal.

Protesters expressed dissatisfaction about what they claims is the state’s lack of public consultation and high level of secrecy in the proposed deals.

The demonstrators marched through the city centre to the Constitutional Court singing and carrying anti-nuclear placards. They were greeted by some cheers as people watched from the high-rise buildings which lined the road.

A young protester from Bekkersdal said that he joined the protest because he believes that building huge nuclear power plants is not something the country can afford. He noted that he would like to see that kind of money being spent on health and education.

Trusha Reddy from Earthlife Johannesburg, one of the organisers of the demonstration, said that the proposed deal would bankrupt the country. She also questioned government’s reluctance to invest in renewable energy alternatives like wind and solar energy. “We don’t understand why our government is pushing ahead with a technology which has proven to be very dangerous,” said Reddy.

Earthlife hopes the demonstration will raise awareness and build momentum for what it claims is one of the most important cases of the decade. In December the Cape High Court will hear an application by the organisation against the Minister of Energy to have a number of nuclear agreements with the Russian government declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

GroundUp will publish a detailed report on this court case soon.

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