Pretoria – The Public Service Commercial Union (PSCU) has welcomed the court ruling that compelled Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to provide the confidential documents on the sale of a 51% stake in SAA.
The Western Cape High Court dismissed Toto Investment Holdings’ application to stop the sale of SAA to Takatso with costs on Monday.
Toto is a losing bidder in the sale of the government’s 51% majority stake in the struggling national carrier.
Toto required the disclosure of all documents related to the sale on a non-confidential basis, and wanted to interdict the implementation of the transaction pending the finalisation of the review application.
But the court ordered that certain documents should be disclosed on a confidential basis while others should be disclosed on a non-confidential basis.
The PSCU said the principles of the ruling would go a long way to ensuring that corruption is minimised in the country.
“The PSCU will continue to do everything in its power to confront all vehicles that house, transport and deliver corruption, irrespective of who is the driver.
“No-one is above the law and this democracy, it will not be a credible democracy if it fails to protect our people. This judgment against Mr Gordhan will send a strong message to those who believe they are above the law and their deeds will remain sealed,” said the PSCU’s secretary-general, Tahir Maepa.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) said on Monday that the confidentiality regime was suggested by the State Attorney before the matter went to court, but Toto had rejected it.
Gordhan had refused to share details on the deal. He told the MPs that by the end of the year or soon afterwards, the partnership between the government and Takatso would be formalised and commercialised.
After the judgment was delivered, Gordhan said it paved the way for his department to proceed with the implementation of the transaction.
“We welcome the judgment as we have stated in our affidavit that the transaction is governed by confidentiality undertakings and the department was not at liberty to disclose to third parties certain documents related to the transaction, unless under a confidentiality regime,” Gordhan said.
“It is unfortunate that Toto had to press ahead with this ill-fated strategy after we discussed with them at length about the confidential nature of the transaction.”
