Parliament – National Treasury plans to review a contract entered into by South African Airways but is still awaiting documentation and approval from the leadership of the troubled national carrier, according to a parliamentary response from Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan published on Wednesday.
Gordhan did not disclose the contract in question, unlike in the instance of those signed by other state-owned entities that are being reviewed by National Treasury.
The question, submitted by the Democratic Alliance, asked whether each state-owned company in question was cooperating with the investigation.
“SAA, waiting for chairperson and board to grant permission and therefore the review has not commenced,” the minister responded.
The response confirmed the known review of Eskom’s coal contracts, which includes the utility’s controversial deals with the Gupta family’s Tegeta as well as Transnet’s contract with Trillian.
However, the planned review of an SAA deal was not known and was not listed in a briefing by Chief Procurement Officer Kenneth Brown to MPs in May this year when the mulling of other contracts entered into by parastatals to a value exceeding R10 million was noted.
National Treasury spokeswoman Yolisa Tyantsi suggested that Gordhan’s response omitted details of the contract because the matter remained subject to discussion with SAA’s leadership.
African News Agency