Gidon Novick's resignation from the board of The Takatso consortium

Gidon Novick’s resignation from the board of The Takatso consortium, which was chosen as the new majority shareholder of SAA last year, has been officially announced.

Novick, the co-founder of low-cost airline Lift, announced his resignation to News24 on Monday. He allegedly noted a lack of openness in the transaction’s development, which began 15 months ago but hasn’t been finished.

Controversy surrounds the agreement, which calls for Takatso to acquire a 51% interest in SAA as the government’s strategic equity partner.

The department of public enterprises did not follow a formal process for inviting, evaluating, and adjudicating proposals from interested parties to identify the preferred strategic equity partner, according to the auditor general’s review of the transaction.

Given the inherent conflicts of interest surrounding the SAA transaction, Takatso stated on Monday night that it thought Novick’s resignation was appropriate.

“Takatso is currently pursuing the SAA transaction’s merger clearance by the competition authorities and seeks to comply with the relevant legislation at all times,” the consortium said.

“Lift is a competitor to SAA and the Takatso board has identified the potential conflicts of interest between the consortium and Lift and has sought to manage these throughout the course of the transaction. This includes the establishment of appropriate confidentiality and information management regimes in the spirit of maintaining fair competition in the

South African airline market and in compliance with South Africa’s competition regulations.”

According to the consortium’s statement, Takatso is still collaborating closely with the department of public enterprises to complete the purchase of a controlling stake in SAA.