The department of public enterprises has refuted claims by members of parliament's public enterprises committee that it did not co-operate in the committee's probe into allegations made by a former director-general, about the sale of SAA to the Takatso consortium.
Committee members agreed unanimously at a meeting on Wednesday that they could not reach a conclusion about the allegations made by former director-general Kgathatso Thlakudi on the integrity of the transaction, because public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan had failed to provide it with crucial documents including the share sale and purchase agreement and the shortlist of candidates.
Thlakudi alleged that Takatso was not on the shortlist and that Gordhan had engineered its selection as the preferred strategic equity partner for SAA to benefit certain privileged individuals. He also claimed that there was no evidence that Takatso had the financial and technical capacity to consummate the transaction.
The chair of the committee, Khaya Magaxa, raised the possibility of Gordhan being subpoenaed to submit the documents in camera if necessary.
The department said in a statement on Thursday that some of the information requested by the committee was commercially sensitive and confidential. At no point had it been offered the option of presenting any of the requested information in camera.
It said it would try to disclose all documents and information related to the transaction once it had been concluded.
“SAA is operating within a highly competitive, yet concentrated, aviation market and must not be commercially disadvantaged in this context,” the statement said. “The department of public enterprises, as the government shareholder representative, is legally bound to respect any confidentiality agreement it enters into so as to enable seamless engagement with entities that invoke confidentiality clauses to conduct their business affairs, especially those of a material nature.”
It added that it was constantly advised by lawyers on what it could or could not disclose.
The statement said that Gordhan had appeared before the committee and answered each of Thlakudi's allegations and expressed willingness to share certain documents, but not the shortlist of selected entities and the evaluation report conducted by Rand Merchant Bank “because of confidentiality undertakings made to third parties, which cannot be waived. The share sale and purchase agreement cannot be shared, as it contains a confidentiality clause that prohibits parties from making it public.
“There is no information that is within our legal remit to provide on the SAA transaction that the department of public enterprises has withheld from parliament. All our engagements with the portfolio committee attest to our commitment to co-operate fully on every aspect of our work,” the statement said.
Assertions that the transaction was not conducted in a transparent and fair process were “malicious and patently false”, it said. Everything had been done according to the prescripts of the law.
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