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By ANA reporter 
12h ago
Cape Town – The “leadership pact” reached by Public Companies Minister Pravin Gordhan and unions on the restructuring of liquidity-strapped South African Airways (SAA) may be a major advance, but the media statement released on Friday is sparse in details, the Democratic Alliance said.
The district attorney would write to Gordhan asking for all the details of the agreement he had signed with unions representing SAA employees, Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) committee Alf Lees said Saturday.
“We will also seek a commitment that the ANC government will not make any further bailouts to SAA, nor will it provide any other government guarantees or any other form of security to the airline,” he said.
Gordhan, through a media statement on Friday, confirmed the deal with SAA unions. “This deal may be a breakthrough, but unfortunately, the media statement is sparse in detail. The question that all South Africans will ask themselves is whether this deal does not include even more billions of rand in bailouts to keep the bankrupt airline and whether or not SAA’s majority ownership will be transferred to private equity?
It was surprising that the unions and Gordhan believed that they could enter into a leadership pact that apparently had no details and that business rescue practitioners (BRP) Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana were expected to implement. This agreement also seemed to override the BRP’s decision that employees must decide on a downsizing package before May 1.
Furthermore, the media statement did not make a single reference to the BRPs, except that it implied that Gordhan had apparently taken them by setting “very demanding deadlines for the development of the trade rescue plan,” something that only Matuson and Dongwana could legally. This showed once again that the minister believed that he was in charge and, what was worse, the BRPs were apparently criminals by apparently allowing Gordhan to dictate what they should do. It was incredible that Matuson and Dongwana could be sidelined. this way, Lees said.
“They have a legal obligation to follow sections 128 to 155 of the Companies Law. The BRP’s legal mandate is to design an acceptable commercial rescue plan or, failing that, request liquidation. In about five months, Matuson and Dongwana They have failed to develop a commercial rescue plan of any kind, although the BRPs did not produce a commercial rescue plan within the time limits contained in the Companies Act, nor did they request liquidation as required by the Acting Companies.
“Matusan and Dongwana need to act together and resist any interference from Minister Gordhan. The public deserves clarity about the future of SAA and the full details of any agreements the minister has signed and a guarantee that public money will not be wasted in a cause. lost, especially during this time of crisis. “
The DA strongly opposed any additional bailouts, either in cash or with government guarantees as working capital for SAA. Any funding required under the negotiated leadership pact must be raised from investors and not from the taxpayer, Lees said.
African News Agency (ANA)
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