Aventura bid
Ann Eveleth
Minister for Public Enterprises Stella Sigcau came under severe criticism this week for “acting beyond her authority” in the sale of tourism parastatal Aventura. A senior government official and a member of one of four consortiums expected to lose the bid this week said Sigcau and her privatisation advisers, HSBC Investment Bank, had flouted the system of checks and balances required by legislation governing the parastatal.
Public enterprises adviser Kennedy Memani said he expected an announcement on the preferred bidder on Thursday, following a meeting of the interministerial Cabinet committee on privatisation.
Predictions were that the Kopano ke Matla consortium headed by the Congress of South African Trade Unions’s investment arm would win Aventura after bidding R88- million, R30-million of which would go to government.
Sources at Shomang Investment Holdings said this flew in the face of earlier reports that Kopano’s bid was only R25- million, fuelling suspicions about the bid process.
The Shomang source said it had bid a total of R161-million for 85% of the parastatal, with the remaining 15% to be purchased by the National Empowerment Fund. This included R100-million to government, R21- million toward the cancellation of Aventura’s debt and R40-million for improving the resort chain.
A senior government official said Sigcau had flouted the requirements of the Overvaal Resorts Ltd Act of 1993. The Act said that she could only sell shares in Aventura “with the concurrence of the minister of finance and the approval of a resolution of Parliament.
“Parliament is not a rubber-stamp. It must apply its mind to the process, to any complaints lodged and to the bids. This has not happened, yet they are planning to announce the preferred bidder today [Thursday],” said the official.
“The whole process was not done properly. The process of receiving the bids must involve people separate from the people who will adjudicate.”
Sigcau had not responded to requests for comment at the time of going to press.