Johnathan Paoli
THE Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has applied for leave to appeal a ruling ordering its Minister Pravin Gordhan to provide a firm answer to the sale of low-cost airline – Mango – to a private buyer.
In a statement on Monday, the department said that the intention of this application was to ensure that all aspects of Mango’s business rescue process are transparent, legally sound and in the best interest of the South African public.
“This is not a stalling tactic or an attempt to undermine the need to bring finality to Mango’s business rescue process,” the department said.
The state-owned low-cost airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of South African Airways and has been in business-rescue since July 2021.
Early last month, the North Gauteng High Court ordered that the Public Enterprises Minister must decide whether Mango could be sold to an undisclosed bidder within 30 days.
The court ruled that Mango’s business rescue practitioner could assume that the sale could go ahead if no decision was made.
The DPE said the minister was still waiting for more information before he made his decision.
Gordhan has requested the prospective owner’s detailed business plan for Mango, as well as the due diligence that was carried out in addition to information on foreign ownership.
Founder and CEO of Opis Advisory Pty Ltd and Mango’s business rescue practitioner, Sipho Sono, previously refused to pass on all the information Gordhan wanted, saying that if the sale went ahead, SAA and Mango would be business rivals.
Sono has said he has handed over an executive summary of the business plan to Gordhan, as well as details of the nationalities of the prospective buyers.
This comes on the heels of Gordhan’s rejection of the Eskom board’s submission of one candidate for the position of CEO at the power utility.
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