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The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) say the proposal by Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) to sell its “non-core assets” will weaken “one of the most successfully ran state-owned entities”.
Acsa on Tuesday announced that it aims to monetise some of its assets that include filling stations, hotels and cargo terminals worth over R4.4 billion, in a move to mitigate the impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the aviation industry.
The EFF said this was one way of undermining Acsa’s financial strengths and “furthering the tender and privatisation system”.
ALSO READ: Acsa says it pays dividends and doesn’t need bailouts
The EFF on Wednesday called the move “narrow minded and a recipe for disaster”.
“Put bluntly, the sale of these assets is proposed in order to open the room up for entities such as Bidvest to continue their profit maximisation around the needs of the state,” the party said in a statement.
It said that the sale of these assets would be regretted once the pandemic had passed.
“The rationale that these asserts no longer serve as a revenue stream to Acsa, as a result of Covid-19, is short-sighted.
“As the pandemic will pass, Acsa would have surrendered valuable assets and services to the private sector that plays a minimal role in the developmental objectives of the country.”
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