Johannesburg - Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has come under fire for his role in the sale of South African Airways (SAA) to the Takatso Consortium, with parliament’s legal advisors saying the damning allegations against him in the matter cannot be left unattended.
This comes after suspended director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi accused Gordhan of acting irregularly in the rescue and sale of the airline.
Parliament has also sought legal opinion on Tlhakudi’s allegations, with Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) chief whip Floyd Shivambu calling for a parliamentary inquiry.
According to media reports, Tlhakudi has since submitted a disclosure to both President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Speaker of the National Assembly, alleging that there was improper and illegal conduct by Gordhan in the sale of SAA.
MPs who participated in the deliberations of the public enterprises oversight committee agreed on a full parliamentary inquiry into the sale of the airline.
However, the department’s deputy director-general, Melanchton Makobe, said it had followed all legally stipulated processes when concluding the sale.
"When SAA was going through financial difficulties, there were two options for the government. One, to allow it to go into liquidation, and two, to restructure it. The board of SAA at that time took a bold resolution to place SAA under business rescue. Government had committed at that stage to pay all the historical liabilities of SAA. Furthermore, the government had taken the decision that, going forward, it would not be making any capital injections into the airline and that a strategic equity partner be sought," Mokobe said.
On Monday, the department of public enterprises announced SAA’s new interim board, the eighth since 2009.
The EFF also called for the newly-appointed board to be put on hold until more information is revealed about the Takatso Consortium’s acquisition of a majority stake in the airline.
This came after the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (Numsa) earlier in the week slammed Gordhan and his department for the hasty and secretive appointment of SAA’s new interim board, with Derek Hanekom as its chairperson.
Numsa said it was deeply suspicious of the minister’s timing, adding that it was interesting that Gordhan gave no reasons for why the previous board members were fired.
The Star