Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has refused to succumb to pressure to make a decision on the future of Mango Airlines.
This followed a judgment by the Pretoria high court on Wednesday, in which Gordhan was ordered to decide on the sale of Mango as proposed by the business rescue practitioner within 30 days.
Mango is a wholly owned subsidiary of South African Airways.
Gordhan responded after the judgment was made, in which he was restricted to 30 days to accept or reject a R326-million secured offer for the airline to be sold to Ubuntu Air Services.
In his response to the judgment, Gordhan said he was still studying the judgment and he would proceed on the basis of the legal advice he receives on the matter.
“My duty as the executive authority is to safeguard the interests of South Africans. At no point will I abandon my fiduciary responsibility to ensure that any decision that is taken regarding the future of Mango is consistent with the prescripts of the law and is in the best interest of the public,” said Gordhan.
He added: “The issues around this case evolve around my request for further information from the business rescue practitioner. This is what the Public Finance Management Act requires in order to make a judiciously sound decision. I will not be bullied to act in a manner that will compromise the work of government in this regard.”
He also requested the business rescue practitioner to provide a detailed business plan to assess the consortium’s viability.
“While we respect the decision of the court, the department will ensure that we follow all the prescripts of the law in terms of how we execute our responsibility to put all our SOCs on a stable footing,” said Gordhan.
Gordhan had previously delayed the approval for Mango’s sale for almost a year, and the airline has been under business rescue for nearly two years.
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