ACSA denies record of 'Cat' Matlala's R70 million private terminal plan for OR Tambo

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has denied having any records of controversial businessman Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s proposal for a R70 million luxury private airport terminal at OR Tambo International Airport, saying that they are just as lost as the public is.

Matlala, who has been implicated in multiple corruption scandals, according to media reports, is said to have had meetings with Nedbank representatives, which took place over several weeks, with bank officials accompanying him on a site inspection of OR Tambo’s cargo terminal in 2023.

The reports said the failed proposal, formalised in a concept document signed by Matlala, outlined how VIP and VVIP passengers would bypass conventional airport procedures through a fast-tracked system managed by his security firm.

ACSA CEO Mpumi Mpofu, on Sunday while briefing the media on ACSA’s performance during the festive season, said when they heard about this, they started trying to chase it, and “find out where this application is that came with this gentleman”.

“We can't find it in the system. ACSA has this very clear policy around how we manage private tender applications… There is something called unsolicited bids, where private people come to us and say, ‘I want to develop X, I want to develop Y’. We normally collected those because we didn't have a policy on unsolicited bids.

“About three years ago, we actually did develop one on how we're going to address unsolicited bids. So we can go to our finance people, (and) you will find they now collect unsolicited bids.

“There's a policy on how we have to treat them, and the policy says you must assess whether this thing that has been offered is unique, in that there's nobody else in the market that's supplying. So if someone is bringing a totally unique offer, it may be treated as unsolicited,” Mpofu said.

“But on our record, we can't find the ‘Cat’ Matlala associated problem. We just can't find it.

“The number of possibilities with (that) is that it was discussed maybe with a former employee who left, and we’re not able to trace it. It's not on our records.“

Mpofu added that there was also uncertainty if it was him and his associated companies, or if it was “with another company that might be with us, and they were moving in that direction”.

“We really don't know, but on our records, we really can’t find it. It might be that somebody can enlighten us and tell us where to find it, and we'll find it, and look at it, and see who has entered it (and) for what reason. (We’ll also see) was it treated as unsolicited, or was it just an idea from somebody’s mind? But it hasn't entered our system. It hasn't been considered.

“It seems to have a security link, but we are just as lost as you are,” Mpofu said.

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za