The South African government and its national airline have found themselves in a hotbed of contestation after a ‘little fish’ took to fry a big few.
After South African Airways majority stake (51%) famously sold for R51 at the time, a little-known investment firm decided to sue the government and airline.
According to Bloomberg, Toto Investment Holdings has deemed the sale “unlawful and constitutionally invalid.” The documents were reportedly filed at the Cape Town High Court by the company.
Beyond this, fingers are being pointed at for the lack of transparency with which the matter was handled.
Toto appears not to be blessing the flights down in Africa, and wants the sale scrapped, and re-run.
A 49% share belongs to the Department of Public Enterprises, but Takatso Consortium who obtained the majority has previously been critiqued for representing contingent liability, reports SABC news.
The decision to sell a majority stake, beyond the ridiculous price, has also been earmarked as a “financial risk to the state” due to the terms being in favour of Takatso Consortium, as per the National Treasury.
Why is Toto getting involved? According to founder, Bongani Gigaba, his firm was unfairly excluded from the deal, as reported by Bloomberg.
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Picture: @flysaa