SAFTU: Gordhan must make SAA affairs public

This comes after Public Enterprise Minister Pravin Gordhan wrote to the Parliamentary Committee seeking non-disclosure from members of the portfolio committee.

This meant that Gordhan’s reports on the progress of the equity deal between SAA and Takatso Consortium were kept secret.

Members of the media were barred from the parliamentary session where he was reporting on the SAA affairs.

Last month, SAA celebrated 90 years in aviation regardless of the company’s financial woes, which saw it being placed under business rescue in December 2019.

SAFTU national spokesperson Trevor Shaku said Gordhan wants to avoid public scrutiny of the sale of a 51% stake in SAA to Takatso.

“We contend that hiding the affairs of SAA or any state-owned enterprise from the public is not reasonable and justifiable, primarily because these are public companies and secondarily because we are bankrolling them. Therefore, the behaviour and attitude of Minister Gordhan must be condemned with the contempt it deserves.

“His continued determination to hide SAA's affairs after Takatso Consortium acquired a stake in the company raises alarm and speculation. It could be that he is shielding corruption or that the sale of the 51% stake was unnecessary. SAFTU opposed the partial privatisation of SAA as a matter of principle.”

Shaku said Takatso Consortium’s involvement at SAA has not borne any fruit.

“It appears that Takatso Consortium has not made the advance it had reportedly committed towards capitalising SAA after acquiring R3 billion. In that case, SAA's only source of capitalisation is the state. This nullifies why Minister Gordhan advanced when he anchored its sale to the Takatso Consortium. If the government is the only party advancing investments to SAA, then there was no need for its partial privatisation in the first place.”

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