There have been fresh calls for Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan to resign.
This comes after Gordhan failed to account to the standing committee on public enterprises over the Takatso Consortium/SAA deal.
On Wednesday, MPs slammed the minister for his failure to co-operate and furnish the investigation with key documents on the deal following allegations made by former public enterprises director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi.
Tlhakudi has alleged irregularity and lack of integrity in the sale of SAA to the Takatso consortium
In a statement, Cope said it was disheartened and disturbed by the minister’s refusal to hand over two key documents to Parliament regarding the deal.
“It has come to our attention that Minister Gordhan refused to submit the documents which contain the shortlist of bidders as well as the sale and purchase agreement signed with Takatso Consortium.
“Previously, the minister had delayed submitting the documents to members of the portfolio committee responsible for public enterprise, citing confidentiality,“ said Cope chairperson Tebogo Loate.
Loate said Gordhan’s actions were that of a dictator who did not want to account to anyone but himself.
“We are pleased that members of the committee refused to adhere to the minister’s call, and rather will escalate this matter to the Speaker of Parliament. This can only confirm to us that there is something that he is hiding from the public, and we will not support such behaviour. The Speaker of Parliament must intervene immediately without delaying this matter any further,” Loate added.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, also on Wednesday, Cabin Crew and Alliances Union’s Christopher Shabangu said it was high time Gordhan stepped aside.
Shabangu said employees were concerned about the deal and the minister’s behaviour.
“As the union, we have been unhappy with how the department handled this issue of SAA. The workers and South Africans should be concerned over how all of this has been handled. This is directly and specifically about the minister. and how he has handled this issue. It has been clear that this has not been handled properly,” Shabangu said.
He added that there were many companies who could have invested in the deal and made SAA a profitable company because they were proud of SAA.
“The only problem we have had is the minister and the department … Is the minister capable? … If not, he must do the honourable thing and resign because a lot of people have lost their jobs,” he said.
The committee said it would subpoena the minister to appear before it following his failure to provide key documents on the deal.
However, in a statement on Thursday, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) denied the claims made by the committee that the minister had refused to hand over the documents, saying it had followed the law in the conclusion of the Takatso deal.
“Any attempts to continue casting aspersions about the integrity of the transaction are meant to to sidetrack the public from the hard work that has gone into saving SAA and reviving it into a financially sound viable national carrier that we can all be proud of,” the department said.
On the allegations of withholding documents, the department said: “There is no information that is within our legal remit to provide on the SAA transaction that the DPE has withheld from Parliament. All our engagements with the portfolio committee will attest to our commitment to co-operate fully on every aspect of our work.’’
The Star