Pretoria - Claims that non-governmental organisations successfully managed to stop the signing of power purchase agreements between Eskom and 27 independent power producers are false.
So said Karen Breytenbach, Head of the Independent Power Projects (IPP), at what was supposed to have been the signing ceremony of agreements at their headquarters in Centurion this morning.
Breytenbach, said they had not anticipated the urgent application brought to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last night, by the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) and Transform SA, which had caught them off-guard.
However, she confirmed that the project had fulfilled all the regulatory requirements.
"What has been circulated in the media is not true, the interdict was requested but not granted. But the judge agreed for parties to give arguments to the court on March 27," she added.
Breytenbach said no instruction was made by the court for the department not to proceed with the signing of the agreements, yet as the department appreciated democracy and the rule of law they had decided to wait until the court date.
Thabang Audat, the director-general for the Department of Energy, standing in for Radebe said the department would continue to defend the right of consumers in the country to have access to cost-efficient clean energy.