The Democratic Alliance (DA) has challenged new Energy Minister Jeff Radebe to give the South African public an unequivocal and unambiguous statement on the nuclear deal.

This comes after a meeting of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy where MPs called for clarity on the status of the nuclear programme.

Department of Energy director-general Thabane Zulu said the Department of Energy was preparing a roadmap to deal with nuclear.

"One wouldn’t be surprised if nuclear becomes part of the Integrated Resources Plan because it remains part of the policy on energy,” he told the committee.

Pressed further by MPs, he said a programme and budget has been set aside for nuclear, while there was intervention on the legal process in the Constitutional Court. But he added that any announcement about the future of nuclear in South Africa would be made at a political level.

Yesterday, new Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said nuclear plans could be on the table subject to affordability. The comments about nuclear run contrary to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comments to journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. He said the government could not afford to buy nuclear reactors.

“We have to look at where the economy is. We have excess power and we have no money to go for a major nuclear plant building,” Ramaphosa said in Davos.

Former President Jacob Zuma had promised up to eight reactors generating 9 600 MW of energy starting from 2023.

“We had hoped that President Ramaphosa’s election, and his appointment of Minister Radebe in place of Minister Mahlobo, signalled the death knell of the R1-trillion nuclear deal. It now seems the door has been left open to go ahead with the nuclear deal. This would be a slap in the face for every South African who believed President Ramaphosa when he promised a ‘new dawn’ for our country,” said DA energy spokesperson Gavin Davis, in a statement following the committee hearing.

“It also gives credence to allegations in the public domain that it wasn’t just ‘Zupta’ politicians who benefited from illegal kickbacks in return for a nuclear deal,” added Davis.

He said that in the ‘Betrayal of the Promise’ report authored by a number of respected academics, allegations were made that the African National Congress received R1-billion for its 2016 local election campaign in return for a nuclear deal.

The report is quoted to have said: “There are allegations that one set of transactions involved Russian funding for the local government elections, which may explain where the ANC managed to find R1-billion for this campaign.”

Davis said it would be much more difficult for Ramaphosa to renege on whatever promises had been made, if the ANC as a whole had benefitted from illegal kickbacks.

“The new Energy Minister Jeff Radebe has been very quiet since assuming office last week. The time has come for him to break his silence by unequivocally and unambiguously rejecting the nuclear deal. We call on him to do so without any further delay,” said Davis.

Committee members said they were disappointed that Radebe was not at the portfolio committee meeting to respond to their questions about nuclear as well as procurement in the renewable energy programme. They said it put the director-general and officials in a difficult position.

“We put officials under pressure. They have to answer issues beyond their mandate. But give the Minister a chance,” said committee chairperson Fikile Majola.

Zulu said he was due to brief Radebe on the renewable energy programme a few hours after Tuesday's meeting.