Eskom has welcomed the decision by the Constitutional Court to dismiss the application by Westinghouse to review the award of the tender for the replacement of six steam generators at the power utility’s nuclear Koeberg Power Station.

The court upheld an appeal by French nuclear specialist Areva that a R5-billion tender it was awarded by Eskom to replace steam generators at Koeberg should stand.

 The Constitutional Court did not deal with the merits of the matter.

It only dealt with the preliminary point taken by Areva throughout the litigation: that the party which wanted to review Eskom’s decision‚ Westinghouse Electric Belgium Société Anonyme‚ did not have legal standing in the matter.

In the majority judgment‚ Justice Ray Zondo held that the case should have been brought by Westinghouse USA as this was the real bidder for the tender and Westinghouse Belgium was simply acting as an agent for the company.

Zondo noted the minority judgment of former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke‚ which stated that Eskom was “truly meticulous and proper in its assessment of the bids”.

“Today’s judgement confirms that Eskom follows a robust governance process in the awarding of the contracts‚” Eskom said in a statement. — TMG Digital