It treated leased powerships as new "greenfields" investments while permitting minimal local content.
Rival bidders for the power tender were eliminated by shifting goalposts.
Karpowership SA, the Turkish-led consortium tipped as a preferred bidder for an estimated R225-billion energy deal, was dealt an extraordinary series of aces during the tender process.These trump cards allowed it to emerge as the single largest beneficiary of the government's Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMI4P) - and lie at the heart of industry disquiet and the court challenge being mounted by losing bidder DNG Energy.
When Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe announced preferred bidders in March, three of the eight preferred projects belonged to Karpowership, supplying 1 220 of the 2 000MW on offer. The projects involve five powerships being moored in Coega, Richards Bay and Saldanha.