Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. Photo: Essa Alexander/Sunday Times
Former public enterprises director general Kgathatso Tlhakudi has written to the speaker of parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, requesting that she hold Minister Pravin Gordhan accountable for the controversial SAA deal with Takatso Consortium.
In a letter dated 13 March, seen by the Mail & Guardian, Tlhakudi said “allegations of [an] irregular selection process and the undervaluation of SAA assets to unfairly enrich selected oligarchs should be focused on”.
Tlhakudi said he was concerned that the investigation had become about whether he was part of the process of selection of the Takatso Consortium, which he insists he was not.
“This is a distraction in my view and would only serve to compound the wrong that has been visited upon the South African people,” he said.
Tlhakudi takes aim at the recent legal opinion provided by parliamentary legal adviser Andile Tetyana, which claimed that the former director general led the evaluation committee that chose the Takatso Consortium as the preferred strategic equity partner for SAA.
This comes after Gordhan’s announcement on Wednesday that the deal had fallen through.
The SAA deal — which was first announced by Gordhan in June 2021 — has been the subject of fierce wrangling over the years, spurring on calls for the minister’s resignation.
In December 2019, the national carrier became the first state-owned entity to be placed under business rescue after nearly a decade of financial losses. After it exited business rescue in April 2021, Takatso was chosen as a strategic equity partner to re-launch the restructured airline.
While Tlhakudi confirmed the authenticity of the letter to the Mail & Guardian, Moloto Mothapo said that no such letter had been received by the National Assembly speaker.
“While we note the widespread circulation of the copy of the alleged letter on various social media platforms, it must be noted that unless a letter is formally communicated to and received by the Office of the Speaker, it cannot be acknowledged or acted upon by Parliament,” Mothapo said.
The relationship between Gordhan and Tlhakudi soured in 2022 when the minister suspended his director general. This was after Tlhakudi was found guilty of gross misconduct for exceeding his legal authority and unlawful recruitment that prejudiced qualified candidates.
In his letter to Mapisa-Nqakula, Tlhakudi said he had produced concrete evidence for the portfolio committee on public enterprises that the process of choosing SAA’s preferred strategic equity partner was irregular and unlawful.
“All this information has been disregarded on the strength of a fraudulent Molisane
Memorandum produced by Minister Gordhan at this late stage coinciding with his
announcement to retire from active politics. I did not sign such a memorandum,” he said.
Earlier this month, Tetyana told the parliamentary committee it was evident that Tlhakudi had signed the memorandum on 8 April 2021, addressed to Jacky Molisane, who was the deputy director general for financial assessment and investment services.
Tlhakudi added that Tetyana should have shown “the necessary scepticism” towards the memorandum, considering the manner in which it had come to light.
“I want to categorically state that there was no evaluation committee tasked with evaluating [the] Takatso Consortium offer against the four bidders (ASL/Blue Sky, AirA/Lufthansa Consulting, Global and Harith) represented in the extract above,” Tlhakudi said, adding that parliament was being misled.
He said that if Tetyana had asked for more detail on said evaluation committee — its minutes and composition — “he would have found out the process communicated by the minister is a complete lie”.
According to Tlhakudi, an evaluation process by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) produced two consortiums: ASL/Blue Sky and Fairfax Africa Fund LLC/Knighthood Global.
RMB did not conclude its work and proposed that the department have further discussions with these two consortiums, Tlhakudi said.
He added that the department had separate discussions with Air-A/Lufthansa Consulting, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.
On 14 January 2021, Tlhakudi said, the department had a session with the newly appointed SAA interim board, led by Geoffrey Qhena. During this meeting, the department handed over the five bidders’ entities with an evaluation report to the board, which was expected to take over the process.
“Minister Gordhan chose Takatso Consortium on his own,” Tlhakudi said. He further accused the minister of setting up a team in the department to negotiate the terms of the deal with his preferred strategic equity partner.
According to Tlhakudi, the negotiating team was led by the minister’s adviser, which flies in the face of the ministerial handbook. “I was not part of this team,” the former director general said.
Tlhakudi added that the first time he became privy to details of the deal being negotiated with the Takatso Consortium was at the end of November 2021, when a draft share sale and purchase agreement was brought to him by the negotiating team to sign off.
“I, of course, refused to sign off the said document as the terms were illogical and criminal, in my view,” Tlhakudi said, adding that the agreement was eventually signed off in his absence.
“This was a hastily arranged signing ceremony organised by Minister Gordhan. It is therefore surprising that Minister Gordhan is now renegotiating the transaction despite having defended its terms for almost two years, saying that it is the best deal that the government could get. Mr Gordhan should not be allowed to cover his tracks as he exits the stage,” he said.
Tlhakudi said the government should get to the bottom of theTakatso deal and hold everyone accountable — including himself, if any wrongdoing on his part is found.
“I am pleading with you, speaker, to request Mr Tetyana to perform his work diligently as
he has done before. This briefing note does not reflect the good work that the
parliamentary legal has produced before,” the former director general said.
He also asked that the integrity of the portfolio committee’s investigation not be
sacrificed “for political expediency to allow Minister Gordhan to retire unblemished”.
Committee chair Khaya Magaxa said it remains dedicated to promoting good governance, transparency and accountability in the public enterprises sector.
The committee will closely monitor the developments following the termination of the Takatso deal, Magaxa added.
Comment by Gordhan’s office will be added once received.