Thyspunt nuclear plant clears first hurdle as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor demands local jobs
The environment department has accepted the final scoping report for Eskom's proposed 5 200-megawatt plant at Thyspunt, sending it to a full impact assessment that is still not permission to build.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has accepted the final scoping report for Eskom’s proposed 5 200-megawatt nuclear power plant at Thyspunt in the Kouga Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, moving the project into the full Environmental Impact Assessment phase.
The decision is not authorisation to construct the facility, and the department’s own record of it says so plainly. What it does is clear the scoping stage and open the longer, more detailed assessment that will examine what the plant would do to the ground, the water and the people around it.
Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe welcomed it as a serious step forward for what she called one of the most significant infrastructure investments ever contemplated for the region and province. She said the development presents opportunities to strengthen energy security, support industrial growth and create jobs.
“For too long, the Eastern Cape has been spoken about as a province of potential. A project of this scale gives us the chance to turn that potential into permanent economic strength,” Lobishe said.
She argued the metro is the natural partner for a project of this size, pointing to its port infrastructure, automotive and manufacturing base, engineering capability and Nelson Mandela University.
Lobishe set out five opportunities she sees for the region: energy security that underpins industrial competitiveness and protects manufacturing jobs, construction and operational employment over many years, supplier development for local businesses and SMMEs in logistics, construction, hospitality and support services, skills transfer and research partnerships with universities and TVET colleges, and investment in roads, water and supporting infrastructure that would serve communities after construction ends.
On jobs, she said she will be calling strongly for local recruitment and skills development for young people across the Bay and Kouga. That demand is a commitment from the mayor, not yet a condition attached to the project by any authority named in the record.
The announcement follows an oversight visit to Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in the Western Cape by an Eastern Cape delegation led by Premier Oscar Mabuyane. The delegation included district leadership from Sarah Baartman, representatives of Coega, the Automotive Industry Development Centre and the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council, as well as Khoi-San traditional leadership.
“At Koeberg, I saw firsthand how a nuclear facility operates alongside a host community,” Lobishe said. She said the delegation was briefed on safety systems, environmental management, employment footprint and local procurement practices, and on the facility’s impact on surrounding communities and the natural environment over four decades.
“What we saw confirmed that nuclear power can coexist with coastal communities, tourism and a healthy environment when it is properly managed,” she said.
Lobishe acknowledged the requirements set by the department, including detailed studies on wetlands, marine life, the chokka squid fishery, heritage, water security and community impact. “We welcome this scrutiny. Development that ignores the environment and the people who live alongside it is not development we want,” she said.
She urged residents, fishing communities, heritage organisations and businesses to participate fully in the next phase of public engagement, and said the city will keep engaging Eskom, Kouga Local Municipality, other state-owned enterprises, organised business, civil society, traditional authorities and the provincial government to ensure the project’s potential benefits are shared equitably.
This report is based on the SAnews (South African Government News Agency) account of the mayor’s remarks and the department’s decision, published at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/mandela-bay-welcomes-progress-proposed-nuclear-power-plant. It is a summary of the announcement rather than the scoping report or the department’s decision record itself, and no date has been given for the completion of the impact assessment.
