Pravin Gordhan's three decades in public service are under scrutiny as allegations of aligning with multinational interests over national duty emerge. Accused of subverting transparency and engaging in fraudulent deals, his legacy is challenged by calls for accountability and legal action, raising questions about governance and integrity in South Africa. Graphic: IOL
Tshepo Kgadima
When at some future date, the courts of history sit in judgment on the legacy of Pravin Gordhan, following his three decades of misrule in public service arena, such courts of history shall arguably make an accurate finding of a man whose legacy must correctly be characterised as having been that of a classic comprador bourgeoisie who aligned himself with parochial interests of greedy profiteering multinational capital, in total disregard of the oaths he swore to in terms of the Constitution and the law.
There is arguably no doubt in the minds of ordinary reasonable people that Pravin Gordhan had assumed the status of a de facto prime minister of South Africa, having patently conducted himself in various capacities as being the chief of Cabinet/head of Cabinet and, therefore, the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of State.
It is now an established and indisputable fact of history that during his tenure at Sars, National Treasury and Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan enjoyed total unrestrained authority and power whereby whatever he decreed carried the status of an edict by an emperor or absolute monarch.
Secrecy is repugnant in a modern constitutional democratic state, hence Section 195(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa stipulates: “Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information”.
It is repugnantly untenable, therefore, that Pravin Gordhan attempted to subvert his obligations and duties for transparency as imposed on him by the Constitution, with his sinister intent to conceal crucial information on his ill-fated and unlawful attempt to shamelessly gift South African Airways to his chummies for R51, after having engineered bailouts in excess of R30 billion since December 2019.
Notwithstanding his long overdue retirement, Pravin Gordhan remains enjoined in duty to release to the public, through the portfolio committee in Parliament, all information and documents pertinent to the purported sale of the airline, which must include, but not be limited to:
1) Independent Valuation Report on SAA business, its subsidiaries and assets (Routes, Aircraft, Technical, Aircraft Spares, Duty Free, Apron Services, Properties). The independent valuation report will, unfortunately for Pravin Gordhan, demonstrate that his purported sale of 51% controlling interest in SAA to Takatso Consortium for R51 was nothing short of acts of fraud, corruption and theft which are criminally prosecutable offences.
2) Sale of Shares Agreement / Partnership Agreement and Proposed Shareholders Agreement to reveal who in the consortium carried the burden of providing funding for the “new airline” because the R3.5 billion undertaking/promise by Takatso Consortium was sufficient for 2-3 months of SAA’s operational expenses and not for the three years that Takatso Consortium purported.
3) Proposed Management Agreement; to show who, between the government and Takatso Consortium, was intended to have total control of cash flows, operations and procurement.
On objective facts, Pravin Gordhan can arguably be classified as the commander-in-chief in the enemy camp who fired a proverbial rocket-propelled-grenade aimed at bringing down the “bird of the sky” South African Airways which was for decades globally reputed as the “Pride of Africa”.
Pravin Gordhan has a long history of being the executive authority for South African Airways; at National Treasury and Public Enterprises. It is therefore shocking beyond belief that he seemingly had no constraints whatsoever in unlawfully making financially ruinous decisions for SAA, with classic examples of irregularly getting SAA to spent R149 million on Bain & Co and EY to produce what was evidently worthless and irrelevant “strategic turnaround” documents and appointing the so-called business rescue practitioners who are reported to have been paid over R100 million in fees without successfully rescuing SAA.
There are also several cases of undeclared conflicts of interest during Pravin Gordhan’s destructive stewardship of SAA for which he must certainly be brought before a tribunal to account for.
It is common cause that Pravin Gordhan owns shares in banking institutions that have either financed or leased aircraft to SAA on the back of National Treasury guarantees he facilitated and approved. Some of those banking institutions include Standard Bank of South Africa, Absa Bank, Investec Bank, etc.
Pravin Gordhan’s continued refusal and or failure to release SAA’s independently audited financial statements is unlawful and a blatant violation of Company Law and the Constitution.
In the final analysis, it is patently evident that Pravin Gordhan must be criminally prosecuted for wilful misconduct and violation of Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
Of course the responsibility of audited financial statements lies squarely with the board of directors of a company and, therefore, the erstwhile and current directors of SAA must equally be prosecuted for their apparent wanton dereliction of duty and consequently be declared delinquent directors by the court of law or tribunal.
*** Tshepo Kgadima an Independent Economic and Energy Analyst based in Johannesburg.
*** The views contained do not necessarily represent the view of IOL
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