From the ‘A Bee in my Bonnet’ column.
ONE of the benefits of the internet and social media, at least to this reader, is that government and politicians can be held to account by commentators almost before their lips have stopped mouthing the utterances that they expect us to believe.
Take the statement by previously respected Pravin Gordhan, minister of Public Enterprises, who recently announced the so called ‘privatisation’ of SAA after months of business rescue negotiations and even more wasted taxpayers money – better spent on procuring COVID vaccines and saving precious lives.
Social media commentators were quick to expose that the Takatso ‘privatisation‘ deal was just another smoke and mirrors instance of an ANC vanity project, tightening government control of a failed state owned enterprise and more crony appointments.
With no proper aviation partners in sight – who would want to be in bed with our corrupt government, and the illogical determination by the ANC to ‘save’ SAA after government interference, corruption, theft, freebies and crony appointments of incompetents led to the downfall of the state airline in the first place. Who in their right mind would want to join in this cesspit?
They say that everyone has his (or her) price, but I’m surprised that they’ve managed to rope in Gideon Novack as CEO whose public persona has always been that of a straight shooter and Kulula hero, clearly with some aviation credentials. To give the deal some credibility perhaps?
Surely one has to question the integrity of someone who knowingly accepts a chalice so poisoned? How will he balance this new role with that of the CEO of Lyft I wonder?
Is the SAA/Takatso deal real? – asked DA MP, Alf Lees.
“While Minister Gordhan announced the deal with great fanfare on 11 June 2021, he failed to provide any real substance of what this would entail. There are a host of unanswered questions that must be dealt with in order to ensure that the proposed deal is not just another form of SAA bailout disguised as a deal via the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) or other development finance institution (DFI), or yet another enrichment exercise for connected ANC cadres…”
Yes, and the most pressing, is where is the R3,5bn required to re-float SAA going to come from as Minister Gordhan has assured us that it won’t come from the public purse, now or in the future to keep this lame duck afloat.
And speaking of lame ducks…
While many will welcome the President’s announcement that the cap on power produced by independents has been raised to 100MW, it still doesn’t address the malaise that bedevils Eskom. A step in the right direction perhaps but too little too late, and the thieving still goes on, which analyst Ted Bloem estimates at more than R40bn a year.
While some companies and larger corporations, plus some well healed citizens may take the step to go ‘off grid’, this will take time (and money) so one won’t be seeing an end to load shedding any time soon.
But the real question that doesn’t appear to be addressed is that of the future of Eskom and power generation in South Africa. Faced with power stations that have reached the end of their useful lives, climate change, environmental pollution and the long time line to construct base load facilities, what’s the plan Stan?
