Numsa calls for an investigation into Pravin Gordhan’s role in the sale of SAA

National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) General Secretary Irvin Jim is calling on the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to investigate the involvement of the Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan in the collapsed sale of the South African Airways (SAA) to the Takatso consortium.

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This comes after Gordhan announced that the negotiations for the sale of SAA had collapsed and government had pulled out of the deal.

Problems with the deal

Jim said the Takatso-SAA deal was shrouded by a lot of secrecy and missing puzzles.

According to Jim there are a number of red flags, including lack of information on other bidders to the deal. There were also allegations that Takatso had been approached by government to bid. There were also questions about the financial fluidity of the Takatso consortium and on the R51 figure which was part of the sale.

Jim said there was cause for concern about the deal.

“We are not satisfied with the explanation given by Minister Pravin Gordhan on the SAA deal. It is very clear to us that there are a lot of unanswered questions which require an in-depth investigation. This is why Numsa is demanding that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) must investigate the deal. It does not matter that it has been terminated, it was terminated simply because Gordhan was about to be exposed. More than 3 000 jobs were lost to justify the privatisation of SAA. Those workers are still suffering and we are demanding accountability for decisions taken by Gordhan,” Jim said.

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He said Numsa and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) had been critical of the Takatso deal since its inception.

“As a union which has been consistently raising the alarm over the secrecy surrounding this deal, we feel vindicated and we welcome the news. Numsa worked with SACCA as a progressive labour block to oppose this deal and to oppose privatisation of SAA. We welcome this announcement because we have succeeded in achieving this major milestone, which was to prevent SAA from being privatised,” Jim said.

SAA remains a public company

In a media briefing about the deal Gordhan had said a number of factors had changed since the deal was first negotiated three years ago. This, he said, included the value of SAA and other economic factors.  But he did say that current staff at the airline should not worry about their jobs.

“But at no stage, in the course of the months that come, will SAA get money from the fiscus. It must run its operations as efficiently as it can and as profitably as it can and sustain itself,” he said.

Numsa had also demanded a plan as to how SAA would survive financially since the state company was supposed to get a cash injection from Takatso.

Addressing the media on Thursday Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said cabinet supported the cancelation of the deal.

“SAA assets are now worth far more than they were during the Covid-19 pandemic when Takatso was selected as the preferred bidder,” she said.