Inside SA’s R1.1trn Russian nuclear deal – Carnegie’s Andrew Weiss

Earlier this month, the most prestigious think tank in Washington produced a report detailing what motivated the key actors in South Africa's proposed $76bn (R1.1-trillion) nuclear power project to be built by Russia's state owned utility Rosatom. Had it proceeded, this would have been one of the biggest fixed investments ever undertaken relative to the size of the economy where it was proposed. It became the defining idea of the Jacob Zuma presidency, serving as the rallying point for critics whose resistance eventually led to the early ending of his reign.

From the SA side, much of the detail is only now starting to emerge from testimony being provided to the Zondo Commission into State Capture. Little, however, has been disclosed from the Russian perspective. Andrew Weiss is vice president at the Washington-based non-profit research institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, America's oldest think tank. He co-authored the 27 page report with his colleague Eugene Rumer.

Prior to joining Carnegie, Weiss was a career civil servant working on Russia policy in both Republican and Democratic Administrations and also had what he describes as "a brief detour on Wall Street." The South African focus of the report is a "detour" for Weiss who was drawn to it through a two year project researching the way in which Russia was trying to re-assert itself internationally. The relationship with SA, he says, is a particularly interesting and notable part of this story.

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