South Africa’s main opposition party demanded the rejection of a German offer of a $9.3 billion loan in exchange for South Africa shutting down its coal-fired power plants and switching to “green” energy sources. On Sept. 9 the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK), led by former South African President Jacob Zuma and now the leading opposition party, released a statement labeling the offer as “hypocritical” and a form of “neo-colonial arrogance.”
“This move by Germany is spectacularly hypocritical, because Germany itself continues to place reliance on coal as a source of electricity to propel the growth of its economy. Germany is the second largest country in the EU in terms of coal-fired electricity generation. Seven of the EU’s top ten emitters are German power plants,” the MK party noted.
“The uMkhonto weSizwe Party condemns this loan and attempts by Western Countries to paralyze South Africa’s ability to grow the economy, reduce poverty and fight inequality,” the statement said, and called on the government to resist this attempt to impose this restriction through “flashing blood money” and pressure from “neocolonialist” Western countries.
