‘Unanswered questions’ cited as calls grow for probe into failed SAA-Takatso share deal
|Published
Calls are growing for an investigation into the failed sale of shares in South African Airways (SAA) to Takatso Consortium.
Numsa is the latest organisation to call for a probe into the failed transaction, saying there were a lot of unanswered questions about the deal.
Numsa’s call for an investigation into the SAA-Takatso transaction follows those made by the the EFF, the SACP and the ATM last week.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced last week that the transaction negotiations had been terminated because there was no agreement on the revised transaction structure.
The deal, signed in February 2022, was subject to renegotiation of the terms of the transaction.
Takatso maintains the revised transaction terms were no longer in the best interests of its stakeholders.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the union noted the announcement made by Gordhan.
“As a union which has been consistently raising the alarm over the secrecy surrounding this deal, we feel vindicated and we welcome the news,” Jim said.
He said Numsa had opposed the deal and the privatisation of SAA.
“We welcome this announcement because we have succeeded in achieving this major milestone, which was to prevent SAA from being privatised.”
“It is very clear to us that there are a lot of unanswered questions which require an in-depth investigation. This is why Numsa is demanding that the Special Investigating Unit investigate the deal,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter that it has been terminated. It was terminated simply because Gordhan was about to be exposed.”
Jim said more than 3 000 jobs had been lost to justify the privatisation of SAA.
“Those workers are still suffering, and we are demanding accountability for decisions taken by Gordhan.
We need to make sure that no other minister abuses (his or her) power in the manner in which Gordhan has,” he added.
According to Jim, the investigation should cover the circumstances leading to the initiation of the engagement between the department and the consortium, as well as why the negotiations took place with people who did not have a cent to their names.
“There was something very underhanded about this transaction.”
He also said the names of the shortlisted entities remained confidential.
“We demand to know who the other bidders were and why they were rejected in favour of the Takatso consortium.
“We also want to see the rationale from the Department of Public Enterprises for why these bidders were rejected and Takatso was chosen,” Jim added.
He said it seemed obvious Gordhan became personally involved and handpicked the people who would get to buy a majority share of SAA.
“Gordhan has been hiding the truth from the public on SAA, and now that his attempts to ram this shady deal through have failed, he chooses to retire. He is running away from accountability.”
While announcing the termination of the deal, Gordhan complained about media reports that suggested wrongdoing had occurred in the handling of the deal.
“Suddenly I have become a corrupt individual in the eyes of some people without them having an iota of proof.
If you find me having stolen one cent of public money, you have something on your side which I do not have.
Nobody can find that,” Gordhan said.
He insisted that no pressure had been placed on him to terminate the deal.
“This was a process professionally handled by the department, and we came to the point where we said maybe this was not the best route for SAA to be taken through,” Gordhan said.
Cape Times