- The United Democratic Movement has stayed its bid - at least temporarily - to challenge the state's plan to sell a majority stake in SAA.
- UDM leader Bantu Holomisa says the challenge was put on ice after President Cyril Ramaphosa clarified that the sale of a 51% stake in the national carrier to the Takatso Consortium was not a done deal.
- Holomisa wants Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts to look into the deal.
Bantu Holomisa, the leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), says his party has stayed its bid to challenge the state's plan to sell a majority stake in SAA to the Takatso consortium after President Cyril Ramaphosa said the plan was not yet a done deal.
Holomisa announced last week that the UDM was meeting with its lawyers to challenge the inclusion of Harith General Partners in the consortium named as the preferred strategic equity partner for struggling national flag carrier.
Harith at the time hit back against the UDM leader, saying his threats of legal action were just the latest in a long line of unsubstantiated allegations against it.
But the UDM leader said on Friday that the party had "changed route", at least temporary, as the sale has not been concluded.
Holomisa referenced remarks made by President Ramaphosa on Tuesday last week, where he said that due diligence was still being undertaken.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has also said that a "definitive sale and purchase agreement" will only be concluded once this process is completed.
With the legal challenge on ice, Holomisa has written to Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) to ask for hearings into the deal, where he wants state-run asset manager the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to give evidence.
Harith and the PIC have a tangled history, and the Mpati Commission into the asset manager recommended that their relationship be investigated as it gave Harith "easy access to money".
What's it worth?
He also wants evidence about the value of the airline.
"The question therefore is: how much is this 51% stake in SAA actually worth?" he writes in his letter.
"How is it possible that a mere R3-billion injection is now suddenly enough to save SAA from certain death, whilst government has been pumping billions and billions of rands, sponsored in part by the taxpayer and the Public Investment Corporation, into this entity for years?"
Last month, the DPE announced that 51% of the national airline would be assigned to a strategic private sector partner. The Takatso Consortium - made up of Harith General Partners and airline management firm Global Airways - was named the state's preferred partner.
"We have looked long and hard at the proposals submitted, and our clear choice of a preferred partner is the Takatso Consortium," said Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.