We acknowledge the fact that this was by no means an easy decision to make; yet we should equally recognise that a decision to the contrary would have been worse for the entity, its employees and the country as a whole.
It's a fact that large investments have been injected into this project but with the good intentions that it would secure additional investments and a customer for the product. Even though it has not yielded any of the two, we must acknowledge the fact that because of this initiative, South Africa was noticed in the world of the nuclear fraternity. The ANC understands how painful it is to shed jobs, especially in the current economic climate. We find ourselves in that climate and we are not happy that workers should be losing jobs. We are confident, however, that government has considered all available options and has settled on the best possible outcome.
We believe that it is good for government to continue pioneering innovative and technologically sound projects, with due diligence as a precursor. In areas where an audit is required, be it financial or technical, we think that government should provide the necessary guidance too.
As the ANC we want to acknowledge the fact that parties have welcomed the decision by the Minister. One would realise that other opposition parties would oppose for the sake of opposition, but we want to thank those who play their opposition role as parties that are part of governance. The ANC supports government's decision, once again, to rationalise or downsize this PBMR. I thank you. [Applause.]