Abstract
Areva NP Incorporated in France v Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd 2017 6 BCLR 675 (CC) was a dispute over a multi-billion-rand tender. Although the majority of the Constitutional Court recognised the public importance of the case, it adjudicated the dispute entirely on a preliminary point. It found that the applicant did not have legal standing to seek the judicial review of the award of the tender.
 This case note has three aims. First, I will argue that the Constitutional Court's majority judgment in Areva was generally unpersuasive. Second, I will attempt to show that Areva exposes an unresolved legal question: when should a court consider the merits of a case made by a litigant with questionable standing? Third, I will propose a method for resolving this question by way of substantive judicial reasoning in any given case.
 
Highlights
Areva NP Incorporated in France v Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd1 was a dispute over a multi-billion-rand2 tender
I will argue that the Constitutional Court's majority judgment in Areva was generally unpersuasive
I will attempt to show that Areva exposes an unresolved legal question: when should a court consider the merits of a case made by a litigant with questionable standing? Third, I will propose a method for resolving this question by way of substantive judicial reasoning in any given case
Summary
I have focussed on the Constitutional Court's majority judgment in Areva. I have argued that the judgment oversimplified the law regulating the legal standing of the own-interest litigant. I have further argued that the majority's reasoning was unpersuasive in deciding that the Giant Concerts exception did not apply to the case at hand. My focus shifts to the Giant Concerts exception itself. I will attempt to show that the meaning of the Giant Concerts exception is unsettled. I will argue, in other words, that it is unclear when a court should consider the merits of a case made by a litigant with questionable standing. I will propose a method for dealing with this unresolved legal question
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