PARLIAMENT
Confidentiality is not secrecy, says Gordhan, after MPs fall in line to keep mum on SAA deal
Parliament’s public enterprises committee accepted commercial interest as the reason to not disclose details of SAA’s sale to Takatso. The 51% sale of the national airliner is being renegotiated and this ‘live’ status was held up as the reason to maintain radio silence.
The public enterprises committee’s decision on Wednesday not to disclose details of the sale of SAA to Takatso didn’t come without railroading – if the committee were to decide to publicly release the confidential documents that it was shown behind closed doors last week, litigation may ensue and it could get personal.
“Should the committee release the documents, the committee will be liable for any possible claim or liability, not the department,” Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan wrote to the committee chairperson, ANC MP Khaya Magaxa, ahead of the meeting.
Parliamentary legal adviser Andile Tetyana told MPs, “Where we came from was that MPs must sign non-disclosure agreements and we opposed it. Is the information [from last week’s documents] confidential? My answer is: yes, of course it is confidential… The reason is simple: the transaction is still live.”
Wednesday’s parliamentary committee discussions were a take two of the machinations around the mid-2021 sale of 51% of the national airliner following a series of multibillion-rand bailouts. Last Friday, behind closed doors, MPs were given brief access to documents including the SAA valuation, sale and purchase agreement and the shortlist of interested bidders.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Pravin Gordhan doubles down on the need for secrecy around the sale of SAA
It’s long been in the public domain that Takatso apparently paid R51 for the 51% stake in the flag carrier in the sale and purchase agreement signed in mid-2021. While a R3-billion cash injection was expected, the consortium first wanted all the airline’s historical debt cleared. That hasn’t happened and so the deal has yet to be finalised — almost three years later.
Tetyana had been asked to go through the confidential documents to brief the committee. MPs wanted clarity on the status of the briefly seen confidential documents and how this would affect the probe into maladministration claims made by ex-public enterprises director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi in June 2023.
“There is no absolute prohibition, even on these documents. We have to be [aware] that we are dealing with a live transaction and SAA has competitors… There’s no way the committee can compile a report without [the documents]. If that happens it will have to happen under a confidentiality regime,” Tetyana said.
Although the Constitution enshrines Parliament to conduct its business in the open and in public, Parliament’s Rule 184 allows a meeting to be closed if it is prejudicial to a particular person, protected under parliamentary privilege or “confidential in terms of legislation”.
For ANC MP Thembi Siweya, Wednesday’s discussion on confidentiality, Parliament’s constitutional oversight responsibility and transparency and accountability was a step too far.
“If I had it on my own, we should be having these conversations in private. We should be holding the executive to account in private because others are using it to push a wrong agenda…”
Siweya left the committee before its session ended on Wednesday.
‘Blow to transparency’
MPs had been advised they could proceed to write their report on the maladministration claims and next week, the public enterprises committee will meet to do just that.
Absent then will be DA MP Mimmy Gondwe, who said she would withdraw until Parliament released the SAA-Takatso sale and purchase agreement.
“This is a significant blow to parliamentary transparency and accountability, further providing cover to Pravin Gordhan’s nefarious attempts to keep a veil of secrecy over the SAA-Takatso deal,” she said.
The metalworkers’ union Numsa had called on MPs “to disclose and share with the public the documentation that Minister Pravin Gordhan submitted on the 51% sale of SAA to the Takatso consortium”. It was “outrageous” for the minister to insist on closed meetings and confidentiality.
Next week’s committee deliberations are set to include Tetyana’s briefing which showed Takatso was not on the shortlist when Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) was the transaction adviser. However, after RMB left and Public Enterprises took over the process, in April 2021, Harith General Partners and Global Aviation were informed they were the preferred strategic partners.
Harith and Global Aviation went on to join forces in the Takatso consortium, but in May 2023 the Competition Commission approved the SAA deal only if Global Aviation and Syranix — they co-own the domestic carrier Lift — exited the consortium.
Tetyana told MPs that governance lapses had been raised over how the initial transaction adviser was appointed and why, when RMB left, the department which had previously claimed a lack of capacity found the required capacity.
“Is there any evidence of corruption in the transaction? A resounding no,” he replied to ANC MP Nkosinathi Dlamini’s question.
Renegotiating the deal
Gordhan picked up on the “no evidence of corruption” in his media briefing after the committee meeting, following a chat with his officials, who had attended the meeting without saying a word.
Gordhan again spoke of the “active negotiations” to reshape the SAA-Takatso deal, echoing the comments he made during his September 2023 meeting with the public enterprises committee.
“At all times we have been as transparent and accountable as we could be, given this is a live transaction,” Gordhan said, adding that once the deal was done, the public would be informed. “Confidentiality does not mean secrecy.”
The Cabinet, he said, had been briefed and taken on board at every step.
Renegotiating the SAA-Takatso deal now was necessary because conditions had changed since the initial June 2021 sale and purchase agreement in the Covid-19 lockdown.
“We are negotiating on the basis there must be a fair sharing of risk, there must be a fair price … and it must be in the public interest and it must also benefit the private sector,” Gordhan said. “Where [the negotiations] end and how they end, I don’t know.” DM
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“Is there any evidence of corruption in the transaction? A resounding no,” Based on the last 30 years, a resounding YES! Why keep it secret?
Why keep it secret indeed, as the airline belongs to us, the tax paying citizens, surely we should be kept informed of everything regarding the sale or running of each and every SOE.
SAA should be boycotted into bankruptcy. The existing private sector airlines are thriving without taxpayer funding. There is no need for a flag carrier.
Not sure Paul. During the Zuma years, I felt that flying with SAA was the only return I got for my taxes.
How’s it a return on your taxes when you pay for the flight after you’ve paid your taxes? Duh?
Unless you work in government, and get free flights on the national carrier…
Interesting to know how much is spent on government employees flying around, doing not very much probably.
Guaranteed as much as 80% is govt employee usage which taxpayers are funding!!!
Unless you are a government employee and got free flights you are under an illusion of getting a return. It is clear that, in fact, SAA has cost the taxpayer a huge of money that could have been better spent on education, security and healthcare. I agree with Paul – there is no need for SAA and they have already given away any business they had to privately run carriers that are doing a much better job of running an airline. So, in effect, local air travel has been privatised right under SAA’s nose. The question is: why does the government persist in running SOE’s at a loss when they could be privatised and running at a profit with the government collecting VAT and tax from those companies? This extra income would add positively to the fiscus and make more money available for where it is really needed. But hey, we have a bunch of know-it-alls in government, minister Gorhan included who think they know best.
SAA is bankrupt and has been for years now. The need for a national carrier is nothing more than an ANC vanity project.
Just the comment no corruption tells us that once again there is something underhand with this deal. PG is a disgrace to this country he seems to forget he works for the people of this country. SAA should have been closed down years ago when the wheels started falling off.
Hmm? Agreed! Even the name Kgathatso Tlhakudi looks a bit like an anagram to me. 🫣
🤣🤣
When dealing with the ANC, the last 30 years has demonstrated that the primary means of corrupt extraction of rent has been unknown start-up companies, and the primary mechanism for trying to cover up corruption has been withholding information. Both glaringly apply to this SAA deal. Likelihood of corruption is thus very close to 100%.
You make sense
Ah yes, ‘follow the money and join the dots’ eh Pravin? Remotely legit or if its just kleptocommies doing kleptocommie stuff as usual?
The sun does not shine on the lootfreely gang. Simple.
Buy the business for R51 (now holding the majority interest), have the taxpayers pay off the debts, sell the assets, pocket the money and retire comfortably.
Please let me know when another SOE is being sold. I’m looking for a comfortable retirement too.
Being renegotiated yeah right because you were going to have to show the original corrupt deal? So now to make it look legit let’s “renegotiate” come on Pravin the people are not stupid what are you hell bent on hiding from us the people who are tax payers who pay for SAA and your salary…
“Stop! You are under arrest!”
“Um, no. You can’t arrest me because I’m still busy committing the crime.”
If it’s about commercial confidentiality then the opposition MPs should also get to sign the NDA and see the deal. Anything else stinks of the ANCs favorite sport.
Oxford English dictionary: “confidentiality – a situation in which you expect somebody to keep information secret.”
But then, that is the language of the oppressor I guess. We can invent new meanings for old words, just like we can invent alternative facts and never go to jail for cheating our citizens by doing cozy deals with friends and family that are confidential. And by that we are not keeping secrets.
“It all makes perfect sense, expressed in dollars and cents, pounds, shillings and pence”. Roger Waters.
Flying SAA would be like cannibalism – and then offering another bite of my body as dessert, because I must be a sucker for punishment. My family will not fly SAA ever again, on principle alone.
Bob March 8th 2024 at 05:57
Gordhan very obviously has something to hide. At one time I’m sure many voters thought “here at least is an honest ANC politician”. It’s inevitable that things would change as working in an area rife with intrigue and criminality will eventually turn one into a member of the clan as obviously happened to Gordhan.
Isn’t it ironic that Gordan has presided over SOE’s for a good few years and they are all dysfunctional and sucking taxpayer money at a catastrophic rate. And Gordan sits in his turret absolutely clueless asto how to fix anything. The key question; what skills set, experience, qualifications does he have to preside in this “Ministerial” role? A second key question; which SOE is showing any signs of a turn around. The answer; NONE and the reason can be found in question one. As for SAA, on principle I will never set foot on one of their air craft again. It is probably now an expensive flying taxi for our massive body of politicians and public servants.
You are absolutely right about never flying on an SAA aircraft again. Never, ever again.
You may remember Captain Vusi Khumalo? He is the gent that nearly crashed an A340 into the ground because he undercalculated the mass of the plane by 90 tons. The flight computers took control of the aircraft away from the crew and prevented the crash from occurring. The same Captain got promoted to management shortly after the incident.
You may recall Tito Mboweni reporting that SAA Technical had lost an entire spare engine. Staggering!
I would rather walk than fly SAA.
The odds of finding me on an SAA flight are vanishingly low. Cadre deployment ruins everything it touches and SAA Technical hasn’t gone untouched.
I made a promise to myself I would never fly SAA again. Close the rubbish down, and stop funding it.
Taking taxpayer money away from other possible areas of upliftment to fund SAA is just asking the poor to fund SAA so that the rich can fly cheaper.
Seems to me that flying SAA would mean you pay for the flight twice?