Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the subject of a nuclear deal at a private meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Brics summit in Johannesburg on Thursday, but his host said Pretoria could not sign such a deal for now. Russian state firm Rosatom was one of the front runners for a project to dramatically increase SA’s nuclear power-generating capacity championed by former president Jacob Zuma. Ramaphosa has put nuclear expansion on the back burner since taking office in February, saying it was too expensive. He has focused instead on pledges to revive the economy and to crack down on corruption. Dotted line "While we remain committed to an energy mix that includes nuclear, SA is not yet at the point where it is able to sign on the dotted line," Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman, Khusela Diko, said about the meeting between Putin and Ramaphosa. Hours earlier, ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile said that SA would not rush into major nuclear investments but that it was still open...
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