Cape Town - The DA has slammed Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan for a last-minute postponement of a standing committee on public accounts sitting where he was expected to be quizzed on the contentious SAA-Takatso deal.
At the weekend, Gordhan wrote a letter to Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa, requesting to be excused from the meeting that was supposed to have taken place on Tuesday as he had been asked by President Cyril Ramaphosa to accompany him on a State visit “late” last week.
“This will clash with your planned meeting, at which I would have wanted to be present. As you know, the (SAA-Takatso) transaction is being led by the Department of Public Enterprises. I am therefore requesting a postponement so that I can attend on my return from Kenya,” Gordhan wrote.
DA MP Alf Lees said: “Apparently accompanying President Cyril Ramaphosa on a visit to Kenya is more important than appearing before Parliament.”
Lees said Gordhan’s postponement request was made long after the notice for SAA to appear before Scopa was issued.
The meeting would have seen SAA asked to account on the status of the Takatso deal which, as it stands, will see the majority shares of SAA being sold for R51.
“These shares in SAA are sold after all liabilities of SAA have been paid by the taxpayer,” Lees said.
He said the R51 buys 51% of the shares in SAA, liability-free with extensive assets in the form of an established brand, valuable routes, fixed properties, aircraft and 100% of the shares in SAA Technical and Air Chefs.
“Over the past 17 months since the grand announcement by Pravin Gordhan of the gratuitous sale of 51% of the shares in a debt free SAA to the Takatso consortium, Pravin Gordhan has obfuscated or simply refused to divulge the full details of the SAA/Takatso agreement nor the operating reports of SAA since it resumed operations in September 2021,” Lees said.
He said though Ramaphosa had requested that full details of the deal be made public, Gordhan was evasive and proffered obfuscated answers.
“No doubt, when Gordhan does appear before Scopa with SAA on November 15, if he ‘allows’ the meeting to go ahead on the new date, he will attempt to ensure that none of the SAA or Department of Public Enterprises officials give the game away by responding fully to questions put during the meeting,” Lees said.