Three electricity generation licences issued to Turkish electricity generation company Karpowership have been found by the Pretoria high court to be invalid and have been set aside.
This represents the final death knell for the proposed deal that electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa confirmed in October last year was “dead in the water”. It was initially intended as a way of relieving SA’s electricity shortages.
Karpowership, which operates in several countries, uses its floating power stations to provide electricity.
The court order confirmed a settlement agreement drawn up between the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa), which agreed to withdraw its opposition to Outa’s review application.
The court formally set aside the licences, which were issued by Nersa.
Karpowership was cited as a respondent in the case and initially opposed it, but withdrew a few months ago. Outa initiated the court challenge in April 2022 and it contributed to the collapse of the Karpowership deals, as Eskom eventually cancelled the grid access.
The licences were part of the government’s plan to sign 20-year deals with Karpowership. They were issued in 2021 as part of the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), which aimed to urgently address SA’s electricity shortfall.
Outa said in a media release on Thursday that the deals were expected to have cost about R200bn over the 20 years, an amount that would have been added to the price of electricity.
“The removal of the generation licences is the final end of this deal. The Karpowership deals are now absolutely dead. It will never be loaded onto your electricity bill,” said Outa executive director Stefanie Fick.
“This ruling is a powerful affirmation that decisions involving billions in public funds must comply with the law. We challenged this process because the public deserves transparency, proper oversight and value for money, none of which were present in this licensing saga.
“This case reinforces the principle that even when the government acts urgently, the law and due process cannot be ignored. This judgment strengthens the principle that administrative decisions must be lawful, rational and in the public interest.”
Outa raised several legal and procedural concerns in its court challenge, including the absence of required environmental authorisations and port approvals; a lack of confirmed power purchase agreements with Eskom; criminal investigations pending against the Karpowership entities; and significant long-term financial risks to the public without adequate regulatory scrutiny.
The case was delayed for nearly two years due to disputes over access to the administrative record of Nersa’s decisions, with the full reasons for them as part of the review process. Both Nersa and Karpowership had objected.
Following a court order compelling the production of documents in 2024, the Karpowership entities were subsequently liquidated, and their attorneys withdrew from the matter in June 2025.
The court ordered Nersa to pay the costs of the application on a party-and-party scale, including fees for two counsel.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.