As the sale of Mango to a still unnamed party plods on, the former Chair of the Mango Pilots’ Association has pointed a finger at the DPE, which he believes is acting to protect the interests of SAA rather than South African consumers and aviation workers.

Mango’s Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP), Sipho Sono, in his monthly report on the Rescue Plan,  claims that SAA, the shareholder of Mango, has gone off-plan.

Sono says in his report, that Mango (in terms of the Public Finance Management Act No 1 of 1999), is still awaiting approval of the transaction, so that the next step can be taken.

But he claims SAA has disregarded the deadline of September 30 to consider the transaction and has now taken actions not included in the Rescue Plan.

Sono says in his monthly report that the Rescue Plan had envisaged submitting the final application (with input from SAA) to the Minister of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) during the week of October 3. The Minister would then have 30 days to consider and approve, which means the transaction could have been completed by October 30. 

Sono now says SAA is not following the BRP, and has gone directly to the DPE, raising concerns that he regards merely as “housekeeping” issues, which are immaterial.

“Contrary to the process outlined above, on September 30, SAA decided to submit the PFMA application directly to the DPE along with correspondence highlighting some areas of concern. The issues highlighted by SAA in the letter to the Minister are more of a housekeeping nature and are therefore not material. They will be addressed directly with the DPE.”

The deadlines in the BRP could be critical for the sale process. If kept, they could mean that the new airline would be able to take advantage of the approaching summer season. This would be important for the new Mango, especially if it manages to retain Mango’s route rights to Zanzibar, still unserved by any direct scheduled flights from South Africa.

Jordan Butler, the former Chair of the Mango Pilots’ Association (which had 130 pilots) told Travel News that, in his view, South Africa could only gain from the sale and subsequent revival of Mango. 

“The choice is, sell Mango and create and save jobs, or liquidate the airline. What has South Africa got to lose by letting the new deal continue? Why would you not sell it? In a free market, if someone wants to try make a go of it with their money why should government stand in their way? South Africa needs another airline – it means lower ticket prices, more seat availability, more jobs and more tax into the fiscus. Both the consumers and the workers need Mango version 2.

“The DPE is blocking free-market enterprise. The only reason the DPE could have for this is to block competitors to SAA,” said Butler.