Why are we still at this point? – South Africans still in dark about SAA sale and financial status

South Africans remain in the dark about the future of SA Airways (SAA), its potential sale to Takatso and whether or not the airline is financially stable.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and SAA interim board chair and chief executive Professor John Lamola skirted around a barrage of questions from the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Alf Lees.

The responses left Lees, the rest of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) and citizens none the wiser.

“I asked so many questions and got very little in return,” said Lees. “Gordhan and Lamola are two peas in a pod and neither would provide any clarity on SAA’s financial status, or the direction the Takatso transaction was heading to.”

He said apart from Gordhan quipping there was a R2 billion restart fund – but that it would not last forever – nobody has a clue whether SAA is presently cash positive or even liquid.

“Government and the flag carrier again failed to lift its forever veil of secrecy,” Lees said.

No access to information on SAA sale

On top of that, the resignation of Takatso Consortium CEO Gidon Novick was not exactly a vote of confidence in the future of SAA’s sale. Takatso’s statement cited a conflict of interest between Novick’s interests in competing airline Lift and that of a future, privately held SAA.

But Novick, who retains his Takatso shareholding, told The Citizen it was more a case of being an outsider from the start.

“We were completely excluded from any information relating to the consortium to the point where it just became untenable to be a director of a company we have no knowledge about, no access to information.”

In addition, Novick said in mature organisations conflicts of interest do sometimes arise, but at board level such matters are usually managed within.

Lees wondered why the “conflict” suddenly became the scapegoat issue to smooth over the departure of one of SA’s foremost commercial aviation leaders. And Novick did not believe there was a real conflict and suggested lessons learnt from Lift could have added to the knowledge and experience he had brought to the party.

Tshepo Mahloele, CEO of Harith, the majority partner in Takatso, said they had been consistent in managing potential conflicts relating to Lift.

ALSO READ: ‘If they can’t show the money, there’s no deal’ – Gordhan on SAA-Takatso takeover

“When the Takatso deal was announced, Lift was operating just two aircraft, leased from Global, and SAA was not operating at all. It currently has a market share of less than 5%. When we reviewed conflicts at the start of Takatso, we believed we were aligned and could address any potential conflicts,” he said.

“As the transaction evolved, we made sure conflicts of interest were consistently managed, limiting the flow of confidential and market-sensitive information. If Lift – as a competitor – now wants to engage in business with SAA outside of Takatso, it has the potential of becoming a real issue.”

Novick’s departure ‘not a problem’

Takatso also does not view Novick’s departure as a problem.

“Gidon’s resignation does not impact our ability to manage SAA or SAA’s ability to eventually manage itself,” said Mahloele.

Wayne Duvenage of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse would also love to know what is going on. He said 18 months after announcing the deal, everyone remains in the dark.

“Surely, when Gordhan announced the deal, government must have had some level of confidence that the deal would happen. Why are we still at this point, now?”

ALSO READ: Treasury concerned about SAA deal with Takatso Consortium

Economist Dawie Roodt said SAA’s sustained secrecy is expected.

“I think it’s important for all of us to understand that SA Airways has been a disaster for probably the past 15 years. It’s cost the SA taxpayer tens of billions of rands – money that we could have used on something else – and the wool has been pulled over the eyes of the public for many, many years.”

– news@citizen.co.za