THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) calls on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan over the shady Takatso deal.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the union was not satisfied with Gordhan's statements on the SAA deal.
“It's clear to us that there are many unanswered questions that require a thorough investigation. That's why Numsa is calling for the SIU to investigate the deal. It doesn’t matter that it was terminated. It was only cancelled because Gordhan was going to be exposed,” he said.
Jim said more than 3 000 jobs were lost to justify the privatisation of South African Airways (SAA).
He said these workers are still suffering and that Numsa is demanding accountability for the decisions made by Gordhan.
The minister announced after a Cabinet meeting in Parliament on Wednesday 13 March that talks to sell a 51% stake in SAA to the Takatso consortium had been abandoned.
Gordhan denied that he had acted corruptly in selecting Takatso as the preferred equity partner for SAA.
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Jim accused Gordhan of abusing his power in this matter.
“We must ensure that no other minister abuses his power the way Gordhan has done. We have a duty to protect our state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from wrongdoing,” he said.
Numsa has been vocal and joined forces with the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) in opposing the deal and the privatisation of SAA.
The union also wants to know who the other bidders were and why they were rejected in favour of the Takatso consortium.
Jim said: “We also want to see the DPE's reasoning as to why these bidders were rejected and Takatso was selected. We reject Gordhan's claim that they ‘had no money’. We do not believe a single word out of his mouth because he has shown himself to be a liar and a bully.
“He has actually tried to bully parliament to keep the documents of the deal secret and we again demand that Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises must make all these documents available to the public.”
He claimed Gordhan had refused to allow workers to use their pensions to buy a stake in SAA.
He said this would have made sense in terms of the government’s commitments to boost economic development and create an inclusive economy.
He pointed out that a transaction to sell SAA, in which workers are shareholders, would have been far more beneficial to the public than this shady Takatso deal.
Jim said: “Based on what we've said above, it seems obvious that Gordhan was personally involved and handpicked the people to buy a controlling stake in SAA.
"This is corruption, and we reject his claim that his hands are clean on the deal. People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing!"
