Mantashe says board activist harmed SA atomic regulator

South African Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has asked Peter Becker, the community representative on the board of the National Nuclear Regulator, for written reasons as to why he shouldn’t be fired.

Mantashe, who has suspended Becker, said that he had maligned the board by saying in a magazine article that safety concerns may have been ignored in the restart of a nuclear reactor at the Koeberg power plant and had complained to the chairman of the board and publicly about decision making processes.

“These public statements suggest that the regulator and the government will not diligently and properly carry out their constitutional and statutory obligations,” Mantashe said in a letter to Becker and his lawyers seen by Bloomberg. “It is difficult to see how you can continue to serve with other members of the board against whom you have cast such aspersions.”

Becker said by text message that he will respond in coming days.

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