The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) yesterday called on Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) Minister Pravin Gordhan to approve the sale of Mango instead of wasting taxpayers’ time and money in protracted legal processes already pronounced on by the courts.
“We think he does not want the sale to go through, that is why he is embarking on these useless, pathetic delaying tactics, because the fact is he lost at the High Court, which made it clear there was no grounds for his refusal. The court has called on him to exercise his duties as minister and make the decision on the sale of Mango,” Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said.
Numsa is an intervening party in the initial application.
Mango Airlines’ business rescue practitioner, Sipho Sono, this week confirmed needing only to “work out the timetable with the attorney investor” and meeting with the domestic Air Service Licensing Council (ASLC) to wind down the business rescue process as set out in the plan.
“Business Day” on Monday reported that Mango’s BRP would proceed with the sale after Gordhan missed the court deadline.
This follows ominous silence from the DPE, which last month withdrew its last-ditch notice of application for a special leave to appeal the principal judgment
Sono, in response to a “Business Report” question on whether there were any other hurdles in the way of proceeding to sell the airline to an already identified buyer, said yesterday: “Yes, the High Court order authorises me to proceed.”
Mango’s licences were suspended for a two-year period in 2022 because “Mango has not operated the licensed air services for an uninterrupted period exceeding 12 months”.
The airline licensing council has previously stated that licences were not the preserve of the operator and could not be included in the list of assets in the event an airline was liquidated or sold.
In the latest status report, the BRP noted that the DPE had failed to deliver their petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal within the prescribed time period, which meant that the principal judgment’s order continued to remain operational as a condonation application did not suspend the operation and execution of any order.
“This then means that the principal judgment is not suspended and remains executable notwithstanding the existence of the belated petition,” the BRP noted.
Judge Phooko in September ordered Gordhan to make a decision on the sale within 30 days, communicate and furnish Sono, Mango’s parent company SAA, and Numsa with reasons for his decision.
In their application for leave to appeal, Gordhan and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stated that Sono and Numsa had failed to make out a case that the failure to decide on Mango’s sale was illegal, that they were not the SAA board, and that neither of them could usurp the board’s statutory entitlement.
Gordhan held it that the disposal of assets in Mango, in business rescue proceedings, must be decided with the concurrence of the shareholder and creditors.
“The BRP remains of the opinion that there is a reasonable prospect of rescuing the company, or that the BR proceedings would result in a better outcome for creditors and the shareholder of the company than would otherwise be achieved should the company be placed in liquidation,” Sono stated in his last status report.
Gordhan’s spokesperson failed to respond by the time of going to print yesterday, while SAA spokesperson Vimla Maistry referred comment to the DPE.
BUSINESS REPORT