Chairperson, members of the executive and hon members of the fourth democratic Parliament, when Cope first came into this House, we took a conscious decision to say that we shall be a patriotic opposition, and I promise to be exactly that.
Hon Minister, ngesiXhosa undiqhokr' amadolwana. [... in isiXhosa one would say you've taken the words out of my mouth.] You have actually been able to read what I wanted to say, and you have responded to some of the issues that Cope wanted to raise. Thank you very much.
Colleagues, can I say that as Cope, we welcome the announcement by the Minister that the curtain has finally fallen on the PBMR and that the show is over. In this House, I have on numerous occasions heard members calling for alternative energy, and reference has been made to nuclear in this regard. The decision to terminate the nuclear weapons programme in the early 1990s, was met with much applause by the rest of the world, and now the PBMR leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
With hindsight, I cannot help but to think about the scientists and experts in the various fields of nuclear who have been lost in the past and will continue to be lost going forward.
The fact that no other country has successfully used the technology should have made us pause rather than leap in as we did. In trying to be at the forefront of nuclear technology, we now have to put ourselves at the back.
China, of course, is in a different financial league to us, but the Chinese are attempting to create a prototype called HTR-10. For these reasons, the PBMR team should interact with the Tsinghua University in Beijing so that some of the scientists can continue to interrogate this technology for future use. I thank you. [Time expired.]