'Monopoly will not be allowed'
PRIVATISATION OF Apron Services, South African Airways' ground handling facility, will be completed by the end of the year, says Sango Ntsaluba, Transnet's restructuring executive director.
Both Ntsaluba and new Apron Services chief executive officer Greg Segoneco are satisfied that the process will go ahead unharmed by last year's controversy in which empowerment group Equity Alliance threatened legal action if Swissair's mother company, Sair, was allowed to take over the Transnet subsidiary.
The objection was based on the agreement between Transnet and Sair which gave the latter preferred bidding status as part of its acquisition of 20% of SAA.
Sair already controls Swissport which has 20% of the South African ground handling business. With Apron Services in its grip, it would control 90% of the business in this country, it was claimed.
But Dirk Ackerman, managing director of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), has confirmed that his organisation will not allow a monopoly of this nature to exist as ACSA's enabling legislation forbids any restrictive practices.
Apron Services has suffered heavy senior staff losses during the same period with ten senior and 15 middle-managers leaving them. But Ntsaluba is convinced this situation has been addressed with the appointment of Segoneco, who has a masters degree in business administration from Rutgers University in the US and is highly regarded as a skilful negotiator with vast background experience.
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