Hon Speaker, the ID will not allow this government to simply steamroll the country into buying nuclear power plants that we do not need and cannot afford. Last week, the Director-General of Energy claimed that the nuclear programme was deemed non-negotiable by the Cabinet, flying in the face of the basic tenets of democracy and good fiscal governance. She also made the astounding statement that the National Development Plan is broadly supportive of the nuclear programme, whereas nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the commission is so concerned about it that they commissioned the Energy Research Centre to do its own study into our 20-year energy plan, which found the following: "Even if much lower costs are assumed for nuclear, plus much higher demand growth, the earliest that nuclear might be required is 2029."
Given this, the question therefore remains: What other interests are driving this obsession with these grandiose nuclear plans that could cost this country close to R1 trillion? As the report says, if the 2010 IRP continues to be used as a basis for investment decisions, it will result in a sub-optimal mix of generation plants and higher electricity prices. It is therefore critical that the IRP assumptions are revised and that a new plan is developed. The ID will continue to fight for justice, as the only thing that should be non-negotiable is honouring the commitment to revising our energy plan before the South African consumer is, once again, forced to pay for another procurement scandal that will be ten times the size of the arms deal. I thank you. [Applause.]