Koeberg power station
Photo by: Duane Daws
Power utility Eskom on Tuesday said Westinghouse Electric Belgium had withdrawn its urgent High Court application, which charged the utility with contempt of court, owing to what it said was Eskom’s failure to deliver documentation, as ordered by the court, to Westinghouse within five calendar days of September 5.
The matter would now be moved to the normal court role to be argued.
The documents in question related to the R4.3-billion tender for the replacement of steam generators at Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station, which the utility had awarded to France’s Areva.
Eskom reiterated that it had provided Westinghouse, through its attorneys Webber Wentzel, with all relevant documents leading up to and forming the basis of Eskom’s decision to award the tender for the steam generator replacement at the Koeberg nuclear power station.
“This information was first provided as part of Eskom’s answering affidavit on September 1, and resulted in Westinghouse withdrawing its interim interdict application.
“Further documentation was provided on September 4, September 10 and on October 14 and 15 respectively,” Eskom said.
The power utility stated that more than 600 documents had been provided to Westinghouse.
“In the spirit of cooperation, but without believing that it was in any way forced to do so by a court order, Eskom provided additional documents that did not form part of the court order,” the utility stated.
However, Eskom said that, when Westinghouse’s attorneys made relentless demands for more confidential and commercially sensitive information, some of which Eskom said did not relate to the decision, the power utility resisted Westinghouse’s approach, which it viewed as constituting an abuse of court process.
“The high-handed and personalised nature of the Westinghouse approach is unfortunate. At no point did Eskom or its representatives seek to undermine an order of the court or act in a manner that demonstrated contempt.
“Eskom remains prepared to defend its rights against this abuse of court process and will continue its vigorous defence of the matter when it is set down to be heard for argument. Eskom has complied with the letter and the spirit of the order and will now focus on its preparation for the review process,” it added.