Unions in bid to save Mango

Unions at Mango airline are hoping to close ranks with creditors and start a business rescue process which will exclude parent company South African Airways (SAA) and the government.

Mango Pilots Association chair Jordan Butler said the trio of labour representatives, that also includes the National Union of Metalworkers of SA and the South African Cabin Crew Association, may be a preferred partner for creditors in the business rescue process.

The staff’s high court bid to place the airline into business rescue will be heard on Tuesday, the same day that the previously deferred liquidation application by aircraft lessor Aergen is expected to be on the court roll.

“Every stakeholder is welcome and there is no expectation from our side for any contribution other than a shared purpose to save Mango,” said Butler.

But it could be a close race between employees, who remain unpaid for a second month, and the SAA and the department of public enterprises (DPE) side which, hot on the heels of labour’s decision to take Mango into business rescue, also announced this week that it, too, intends to place Mango into business rescue.

If labour wins the race, creditors can appoint the business rescue practitioner and SAA and DPE could lose control over Mango. However, Chapter 6 of the Companies’ Act precludes a company to enter business rescue should a liquidation application be pending.

SAA interim chief executive Thomas Kgokolo told The Citizen this week SAA has no objection to unions forming part of a business rescue process.

But it seems the SAA playbook has not changed much. In 2018, SAA’s boss at the time, Vuyani Jarana, managed to dodge a bid by Solidarity to place SAA into business rescue by making conciliatory overtures, resulting in an 18-month delay until SAA was placed in business rescue.

Mango’s board and management have been pushing for business rescue for more than a year. But last year, DPE wrote to Mango advising that Minister Pravin Gordhan would be loath to have another business rescue of a state-owned company under his watch.