Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has applied for leave to appeal a ruling ordering Minister Pravin Gordhan to provide a yes or no answer to the sale of low-cost airline Mango to a private buyer.
“The intention of this application is 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,” the department said in a statement on Monday.
“This is not a stalling tactic or an attempt to undermine the need to bring finality to Mango’s business rescue process”.
The state-owned low-cost airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of South African Airways. It has been in business rescue since July 2021.
In early September, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ordered that Gordhan 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 the sale could go ahead if no decision was made.
On Monday, the DPE said the minister was still waiting for more information before he made his decision.
Gordhan wants to see the prospective owner’s detailed business plan for Mango, as well as the due diligence that was carried out. He also wants information on foreign ownership.
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 gave an executive summary of the business plan to Gordhan, as well as details of the nationalities of the prospective buyers.
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