News24.com | STOCK TAKE | SAA's private problems are yours too

OPINION

Hot air lines

In June 2021, when Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced that he and government were confident that the Takatso consortium were the right guys to take on a majority stake in SAA, they hoped this new venture would create a new culture “befitting of a world-class airline to which SAA aspires to return”.

This public-private partnership was supposed to be straightforward. But nothing this government ever does is uncomplicated and without mind-boggling bungling.

It would all be hilarious, if not for the fact that government continues to find new and innovative ways to injure itself like those Darwin Award-winning folks in YouTube fail videos. In SA, there is no laughter… only blood and concussions.  

Two years later, after all the due diligence, obfuscation, concerns about funding, the loss of key leadership, and some “stern uncle” preachiness from Gordhan, government and Takatso still have nothing to show us.

The whole point of this comedy of errors was to have, in Gordhan’s own words, an “airline that is no longer dependent on the South African fiscus”. Now, it might all be for nought, and it could backfire, with SAA continuing to be a financial burden on this country’s already ground-down taxpayers.

Two weeks ago, the Competition Commission recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve Takatso’s bid for a 51% stake in the airline on the condition that the consortium’s two minority shareholders, who own LIFT airlines, leave.

The commission also added that the “parties” agreed to this condition. Gordhan, in response, did the government statement equivalent of pumping his fists in the air, saying this “sends a very strong message about the government’s commitment and efforts to revitalise state-owned enterprises so that they can stand on their own, and help the country meet its developmental goals”.

Well, Takatso, who government chose for their business and financial nous, allegedly didn’t actually consult its minority shareholders about selling their 20% stake when it agreed on their behalf. And those shareholders don’t seem keen on parting with their stake. This is not splitting up marbles on the playground – this is a multi-billion deal. It looks like bad business to agree to something on someone’s behalf – giving the illusion that it’s all a done deal, before going “oh no, we actually still need to consult those guys on whose behalf we decided”.

To muddle this even further, last week, Gordhan’s deputy Oped Bapela told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises that government was open to buying the minority shareholding of Takatso. So essentially, the government will have a majority stake in SAA, and it will go back to being dependent on the South African fiscus.

What this tells us is that government is still not capable of actually letting its SOEs stand on their own.

In April, Gordhan said he wanted this deal to be sorted out in the next four months. It’s doubtful that it is going to happen by then, if at all.

What all of this does send out is a strong message that once again, the government is committed to remaining a joke, and all South Africans are still the punchline.

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