By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, failed to meet the deadline set by the High Court to decide on the proposed sale of low-cost airline Mango.
On September 6, the Pretoria High Court had ordered Gordhan to decide on the sale of Mango, as proposed by the airline’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs), within 30 days.
The ruling led the minister to apply for leave to appeal against the September judgment, based on legal advice.
In their application for leave to appeal, Gordhan and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stated that Business Rescue Practioner Sipho Sono and Numsa had failed to make out a case that the failure to decide on Mango’s sale was illegal, that they were not the SAA board, and that neither of them could usurp the board’s statutory entitlement.
Gordhan held it that the disposal of assets in Mango, in business rescue proceedings, must be decided with the concurrence of the shareholder and creditors.
From 13 December 2023 Gordhan had 30 days to reject or approve the deal. The court said that if he did not respond it would be presumed that the sale was accepted.
Sono said he is proceeding with selling the airline after Gordhan failed to meet a deadline set by the high court to make a decision on the proposed sale as required by the Public Finance Management Act.
He said, in his latest business rescue report that he had written to the minister on January 31 informing him he assumed the approval had been granted in terms of the act as per the court order.
Mango’s licences were suspended for a two-year period in 2022 because “Mango has not operated the licensed air services for an uninterrupted period exceeding 12 months”.
The airline licensing council has previously stated that licences were not the preserve of the operator and could not be included in the list of assets in the event an airline was liquidated or sold.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) called on Gordhan to approve the sale of Mango instead of wasting taxpayers’ time and money in protracted legal processes already pronounced on by the courts.
“We think he does not want the sale to go through, that is why he is embarking on these useless, pathetic delaying tactics, because the fact is he lost at the High Court, which made it clear there was no grounds for his refusal. The court has called on him to exercise his duties as minister and make the decision on the sale of Mango,” Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said.