South Africa has responded to President Donald Trump’s criticism of its expropriation legislation and its foreign policy by suggesting that it is prepared to work with Iran and Russia in developing domestic nuclear power plants.
Reuters reported Monday:
South Africa could turn to Russia or Iran to expand its civilian nuclear power capacity, a senior government minister said, a stance analysts say could deepen a rift with the United States and further delay the renewal of a strategic energy pact.
South Africa, which operates Africa’s only nuclear power plant, Koeberg, plans to add 2,500 megawatts of new capacity to tackle electricity outages that have plagued the economy and to reduce emissions.
“We can’t have a contract that says Iran or Russia must not bid, we can’t have that condition,” Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe, one of the government’s leading proponents of expanding nuclear capacity, said.
Mantashe has been one of the most aggressive members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in responding to Trump’s criticism, threatening last week to cut the U.S. off from supplies of South African minerals.
Mantashe’s threat could complicate efforts by the ANC, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), and others to smooth over the growing divide between the two countries when they visit Washington, DC, in the next two weeks.
Trump’s executive order earlier this month suspended aid to South Africa, and offered asylum to Afrikaner farmers, due to concern about a new Expropriation Act that would allow the South African government to seize property without compensation.
In the text of the order, Trump also noted: “South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”
South Africa denied having any current nuclear arrangements with Iran, though the Iranian regime has been suspected for decades of having covert nuclear ties with South Africa, including the purchase of South African uranium.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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