EFF forces cancellation of Acsa board meeting
• Party demands that transport minister remove Gupta ‘pawns’ • Family accused of capturing directors for tenders
Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi cancelled a board meeting of the Airports Company SA (Acsa) scheduled to be held on Tuesday after he had received a letter of demand from the EFF to remove directors it says are “pawns” and “henchmen” in the Gupta family’s state-capture project.
The party says the Guptas “captured” the Acsa board because the family wanted to benefit from a R51bn runway upgrade project the state entity was about to embark on and to gain control of the luxury terminal at OR Tambo airport owned by the Oppenheimer family’s aviation company, Fireblade.
It is understood the Gupta family has set its sights on a R3.5bn tender to upgrade a runway at Cape Town International Airport.
The letter seen by Business Day warns Maswanganyi that the EFF would interdict the directors from attending Tuesday’s meeting if it went ahead before the party brought an application on Friday to have them removed.
The party wants a letter of undertaking by Thursday from Maswanganyi and the Acsa directors that they will not take part in board meetings until the review application is heard.
Failing this, the EFF will seek a punitive costs order against the minister and Acsa’s directors in their personal capacities, including for “all financial loss and/or costs Acsa suffered” as a result of their decision.
Acsa CEO Bongani Maseko confirmed that Tuesday’s scheduled meeting had been “postponed” because “the minister had asked to apply his mind to the most recent development”, referring to the letter of demand from the EFF.
He also confirmed that he had received a copy of the EFF’s letter to the minister and Acsa board but declined to comment on the allegations that Acsa board members had been “captured” by the Guptas.
“Our responsibility as management and the executive is to run the company and make sure that planes continue to land and take off,” he said.
“I don’t want to meddle in the political space because that’s not
where we play. Our job is just to provide a service to the travelling public. We don’t as executives get involved in appointing board members.”
He confirmed Acsa would spend R3.5bn in the next three years on “upgrading a realigned runway in Cape Town”, but disputed the EFF’s claims of a R51bn national runway upgrade.
The budget for “our five-year capital expenditure plan is about R20bn. I don’t know where the R51bn comes from. This may have been misrepresentation or a misunderstanding.”
The directors described as “Gupta pawns” and “henchmen” include Kenosi Moroka, Chwayita Mabude and Bajabulile Luthuli, whose names appeared in the Gupta leaks.
Theirs were among five names forwarded by the Guptas in 2012 to an adviser of former transport minister Ben Martins under the headings “Proposed New Members” and “Acsa”.
Business Day has seen no evidence that these directors have furthered the Guptas’ business interests. The Sunday Times reported that the decision by Martins to use a legal opinion to defy the Gupta family’s proposals for board members contributed to his removal.
The EFF’s letter points out the four board members including Moroka were fired in February by Maswanganyi’s predecessor, Dipuo Peters, after they either failed or refused to submit to a skills audit.
Shortly afterwards, President Jacob Zuma reshuffled the Cabinet, replacing Peters with Maswanganyi.
Although his department advertised the positions and asked members of the public to submit their CVs for consideration, on May 31 Maswanganyi “inexplicably” reinstated all four board members as nonexecutive directors for another two years without awaiting the outcome of a public process.
Maswanganyi’s letter to Moroka, seen by Business Day, informs him he is reinstated “with immediate effect on the same terms and conditions as your initial letter of appointment, until April 30 2019”.
The EFF says it was unlawful of Maswanganyi to reinstate Moroka and the other three directors because an executive decision once made is final and cannot be revoked by the same decision-maker without a judicial review process. The party contends the “unlawful reinstatement of the Gupta appointees to the Acsa board … will perpetuate the capturing of the state by [the] politically connected Indian family, whose acquisition of South African citizenship is overshadowed by a dark cloud”.
Asked about the EFF letter and the Gupta leaks, Moroka said he had never spoken with or met the Guptas.
“I’ve been with Acsa for four years. I’ve never had any application from any Gupta company. I abhor state capture in any form,” he said. “I intend to execute my fiduciary responsibility to my utmost capability and in the public interest.”
The EFF insists the directors’ reinstatement is unlawful and their participation in Acsa board activities is irregular.
Acsa chairman Roshan Morar said on Tuesday that he was “not mandated to comment on behalf of the board” on the allegations of state capture contained in the EFF letter.
“I don’t know how you got that letter. It’s concerning that you have it. I wouldn’t want to comment,” he said.
Maswanganyi, the Gupta family and the EFF had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.