Sipho Sono, the business rescue practitioner (BRP) in charge of executing low-cost state airline Mango’s business rescue plan, is hopeful that with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan’s departure from politics, which was announced last week, his strange resistance to the sale of Mango will also vanish. Mango is a subsidiary of South African Airways (SAA), which is involved in a controversial sale agreement with the Takatso Consortium for 51% of its shares.
Sono says there is no logic to Gordhan’s fight against the sale, since both SAA and Takatso have indicated that they are not interested in operating a low-cost airline. “A new minister may have a different view and look at things objectively,” he says. Not quite apathy … Gordhan has for an extended period of time failed to take a decision on the sale, which has had a paralysing effect on the business rescue process and efforts to revive jobs, since his approval as shareholder representative is a legal requirement for the sale to procee