Cosatu in Parliament says it welcomes the decision by the Competition Commission to provisionally approve the envisaged merger between the South African Airways (SAA) and the Takatso Consortium.
The agreement, announced in 2021 by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, indicated that Takatso would be a major shareholder by buying 51% of SAA as an equity partner.
The recommendation of the commission comes after an investigation into the legitimacy of the deal.
Cosatu Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks says this is a long overdue necessary step, especially for the workers that lost their jobs at SAA.
“We know the findings of the Competition Commission which must be respected and so forth as part of ensuring there is no conflict of interests in this competition at all times in the sector. I think for Cosatu what’s the most critical issues is that we revive SAA. We revive the jobs of those workers, those jobs that have been created on the line. That priority is given to those workers that have lost their jobs at SAA and being given preference in being employed. We hope to see that they are not only reviving SAA only as an airline but also its very subsidiaries with SAA technical playing a very critical role in services relating to airline planes across South Africa.”
SAA-Takatso deal referred to competition tribunal:
Meanwhile, The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) says it has requested Parliament to intervene in the approval of the deal between South African Airways and the Takatso Consortium.
This is in response to the Competition Commission’s provisional approval of the merger.
NUMSA National Spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says the deal is shrouded in secrecy.
“The national union of metal workers of South Africa has written to the Parliamentary portfolio committee on public enterprises to request an audience because we feel strongly that the SAA deal with Takatso is very doggy. In fact, as far as we are concerned that deal is corrupt and we have raised various issues around why we think this deal is corrupt. First and foremost the minister of public enterprises minister, Pravin Gordhan is the one who engineered this deal. He basically handpicked the Takatso Consortium as the so called right partner, equity partner.”
Numsa on efforts to block the SAA-Takatso deal: Phakamile Hlubi-Majola
