Confidentiality is not secrecy, says Gordhan, after MPs fall in line to keep mum on SAA deal

7 Mar 2024

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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‘Blow to transparency’

Renegotiating the deal