THE COMPETITION Tribunal ended the first day of hearings into the now Competition Commission conditionally approved takeover of national carrier SA Airways (SAA) by Global Aviation trading as the Takatso Consortium on a tense note, as the large sway of presentations were against the merger, at least in current form.
Tribunal members, chairperson Mondo Mazwai, advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi and Dr Thando Vilakazi, heard from the commission, which was on the backfoot in justifying its recommendation of the deal.
Its principal analyst, Wiri Gumbie, said that Takatso Aviation was created specifically for this acquisition and was bidding to acquire SAA operations, SAA Technical and Air Chef.
He said the second part of the deal includes a “moratorium on merger- related retrenchments and to maintain a minimum number of employees at SAA.…