Sunday Times Editorial: DID the Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, really think that a decision to spend R300-billion over the next 17 years on nuclear power stations did not merit a mention in his budget speech?

The figure was contained in the detailed budget documentation - page 95 of the National Treasury 2012 Budget Review, to be exact.

Bearing in mind the decade-long fiasco that resulted from greed, fraud, corruption and cover-ups surrounding the R45-billion arms deal, the contracts surrounding this "mother of all tenders" must be placed under scrutiny from day one.

South Africa's growing reputation for corruption derives in no small part from the singular failure of the state to mete out justice to those who had their snouts in the trough during the arms deal feeding frenzy.

The two prominent cases in which action was taken - the prosecution of Tony Yengeni and Schabir Shaik - have been less than convincing.

Yengeni has returned to a high-profile role in the ANC's party machinery and Shaik has been released from prison on spurious grounds to play golf and whine about his unfair treatment.

The R300-billion to be spent on nuclear power must be treated very differently from the outset.

In the first instance, the decision to spend such a vast sum ought to be interrogated publicly. Do we really need to spend so much? Is nuclear the right option?

What are the environmental consequences of placing these power stations "on the coastline"?

In the event that we conclude that this spending is unavoidable, the entire process must take place with transparency and accountability.

Bidders for contracts, sub-contracts and tenders must be made public along with the identities of their local business partners.

Conflicts of interest involving those in a position to influence the nature and scope of tenders must be eliminated.

No person in the cabinet or relatives of a minister should be a beneficiary of any contract related to this project. And members of the government bureaucracy must resist the temptation to make a quick fortune.

The government is about to legally restrict the media's ability to report on matters of state security, which will no doubt include contracts related to nuclear energy.

With the secrecy legislation in place, the door will open for those who make a living by stealing from the public purse to dip their noses into a R300-billion trough.

Now is the time for all those who cherish a free and open society in which power is checked by accountability and citizens are fully informed to take a stand. Don't let your R300-billion be stolen from the public purse.

With acknowledgements to Sunday Times.

This surely is going to be The Big One.

But does  the country  really need all that power?

All those nuclear power stations?

The 2011 census hasn't even been completed yet.

Future power requirement need to be informed by the census and other statistics.

Just a few weeks ago a labour analyst was warning that older people's pensions and medical aids were in jeopardy in the future (20 to 50 years) because of declining birth rates affect the labour market.

The ANC us incredible. For 15 years it's been refusing to build power stations, nor it wants to build 20 large ones and roll out 20 GW of renewable power.

What's changed?

The Arms Deal has taught how things can be done and how they shouldn't be done.

There were no real BEE rules back in 1997/9 and a few snouts got burnt in the frenzy.

Now the ANC has all the laws and special purpose vehicles (such as Chancellor House) in place to fully exploit this mother of all tender opportunities.

Watch all the functionaries resign at just the right time to join the usual suspects at emptying the trough.

Watch the usual corporates being given the pride of place in filling the trough.

And much of it will be legal, backed by the 17 years of experience starting off with Tony Yengeni and Thabo Mbeki getting the Spanish frigate deal cancelled and transferred into the grubbiest of German paws in the likes of Christoph Hoenings, Juergen Koopman and Klaus-J Muller of Thyssen and the German Frigate Consortium.

And it cost the Germans just DM2,5 million*  to swing this deal from the Spanish and took the cost borne by the South African taxpayer for the four MEKO-klass korvetten from around R2,5 billion in 1995 Rands to just R6,873 billion in 1999 Rands.

The slimy French hanging on the coat tails of the greasy Germans had their slice pumped from R1,470 billion in 1998 Rands.to R2,599 billion in 1999 Rands.

* Yes, there a written and signed bribe agreement for DM2,5 million. The original is sitting in a German Prosecutor's Office strongroom in Dusseldorf.

Menzi Simelane made sure it stayed there.

Will Willie Sereti manage to get a verified copy to the RSA?