The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday described the Western Cape High Court ruling halting government’s nuclear procurement plans as a victory for the whole country.

“The Court’s findings have greatly narrowed government’s ability to legitimately procure additional nuclear capacity,” DA energy spokesperson Gordon Mackay said.

“The DA will now work to ensure that Eskom halts all work on the nuclear procurement process and will seek to guarantee that no Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued. Any attempts by Eskom to subvert the decision of the court will be challenged by the DA.”

Judge Lee Bozalek set aside two determinations signed by former energy minister Tina Joemat-Petersson which lay the basis for Eskom’s current nuclear procurement plans.

Bozalek also found that the utility’s request for information on potential bidders in December was unlawful, as was the country’s nuclear co-operation agreement with Russian state nuclear group Rosatom — which was seen as the frontrunner to secure a contract to build new nuclear power plants.

Mackay said in simple terms, the court ruling meant that since none of the government’s decisions to procure more nuclear power plants were legal, the procurement process must stop.

“The court has ruled that all Requests for Information (RFI) and potential RFPs pursuant to the outdated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and Section 34 Ministerial Determinations are set aside with immediate effect. This means that Eskom must cease all work being done on nuclear procurement with immediate effect.”

Eskom had been expected to issue a formal Request for Proposals by the end of June.

The case was brought by Earthlife Africa and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute against government in 2015. Earthlife activists were jubilant after hearing the ruling and danced in the rain outside the high court.

The applicants argued that government could not afford a build programme aimed at adding 9,600 megawatt of nuclear energy to the national power grid. Critics said the cost could be as high as one trillion rand, a figure the government has dismissed.