Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has written a scathing letter to the portfolio committee in parliament, accusing it of being politically biased and reckless after it recom-mended that the failed SAA-Takatso deal be reported to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe.
In his letter, dated March 27, and seen by Sunday World, Gordhan stated that the public enterprises portfolio committee “so-called findings only cast aspersions on the
cha-racter and integrity of everyone concerned in the department to achieve some political purpose that only the chair [Elvis Magaxa] understands”.
He was responding to the committee’s draft report, dated March 27 and seen by Sunday World, which recommended that Police Minister Bheki Cele “consider referring this matter to the SIU”.
The draft report included former public enterprises director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi’s allegation that Gordhan sold SAA to Takatso for just R51.
Tlhakudi also made a protected disclosure to former speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and President Cyril Ramaphosa in which he claimed that “the sale of South African Airways was orchestrated by Mr Gordhan to benefit a few privileged individuals who were favoured by the minister in an irregular manner”.
Tlhakudi had also told the portfolio committee on public enterprises that SAA was undervalued “in the region of R7-billion to R15-billion” before it was sold to Takatso.
He recommended to the committee that the SIU proclamation on SAA be extended to cover the Takatso transaction, Gordhan, and the role of officials in the public enterprises department.
He also told the committee that “the public protector should be directed to investigate the conduct of the minister of public enterprises”.
In the report, the committee stated that it “noted with concern that, despite writing numerous requests to the minister of public enterprises to submit the relevant documents to counter the allegations made by the former director-general, the minister has only submitted some crucial documents as requested very late into the investigation with conditions for non-disclosure agreements and meetings to be held in camera”.
This, stated the report, rendered the work of the committee difficult to go through the documents and to opine on the transaction.
The committee also added that “the failure of the minister to submit that evidence on time has not assisted the process and has not provided the committee with any tangible evidence to persuade it not to believe some of the allegations made by the former director-general”.
“The lack of transparency on the South African Airways transaction and of docu-mentary evidence further cast aspersions and doubt on whether the SAA transaction was indeed above board.”
The committee claims it was not informed about the deal cancellation but heard “through the media that the sale of a 51% stake in South African Airways to Takatso Consortium has been cancelled”.
However, said the committee, it would have put it at ease had the mini-ster informed it of the cancellation and the terms and conditions to cancel the sale.
The committee added that it “cannot say that the SAA-Taka-tso transaction was above board and will, in this regard, be recom-mending that law enforcement agencies must do their work in unravelling the truth about this transaction”.
Gordhan hit back at the committee and accused it of being “reckless”.
“It is reckless for the committee to insist on information that is commercially sensitive and which could prevent the growth of SAA if publicly disclosed,” the minister wrote.
Gordhan also said that “it is not true that there has been a lack of transparency and documentary evidence”.
He also accused the committee of not conducting the proceedings in a fair manner and being politically preconceived.
Gordhan said he “made special arrangements to inform the chairperson after the cabinet meeting and before the press conference that the transaction has been terminated by mutual consent, which is provided for in the sale of shares agreement”.
He said the committee should not have taken Tlhakudi seriously because he had fired him.
“Why does the chairperson of the portfolio committee give credence to the allegations by the dismissed former DG?”
Gordhan has announced that he is going into retirement after the May 29 general elections and won’t be available for any public office.
Political commentators suggest that he should answer some of the serious allegations made against him, especially about the SAA deal, before he retires.
The opposition party, DA, wanted Gordhan to appear before parliament prior to its recess and account for the cancellation of the SAA-Takatso deal.
The party said he had to provide a detailed account, including supporting documents, of the due diligence conducted by his department.
