South African tycoon Tshepo Mahloele's Harith wins union praise over FlySafair jobs pledge

South African tycoon Tshepo Mahloele's Harith General Partners has drawn public praise from trade union Solidarity, whose leader says the investment firm met unions face to face before buying FlySafair, South Africa's biggest domestic airline, and promised to keep its jobs and pay intact.

Gideon du Plessis, Solidarity's general secretary, wrote in a newspaper column published on Nov. 11 that Mahloele, Harith's chair, and his senior executives held exploratory talks with the union at Solidarity's head office ahead of the takeover. Harith held separate talks with other unions at the airline.

Mahloele told the union that leadership largely decides whether a business succeeds and that he favors partnership with labor, du Plessis wrote. "We want to work with trade unions and pursue inclusivity," Mahloele said, according to du Plessis.

Jobs protected

The unions backed the deal on the condition that there would be no retrenchments and no change to employment terms. Mahloele told them Harith would keep FlySafair's senior management and leave staffing and conditions of service as they were. The Competition Tribunal later made a three-year moratorium on retrenchments a condition of approving the deal.

The warm words mark a shift in tone between Solidarity and the airline. The union represented FlySafair pilots during a strike over pay and rosters in July 2025, which ended with an agreement on Aug. 1 that year.

Harith agreed in February to buy FlySafair from Ireland's ASL Aviation Holdings, the airline's former majority shareholder. The deal settled a dispute over FlySafair's foreign ownership that had put its operating licences at risk, since South African law requires domestic airlines to be controlled by South Africans. The Competition Commission cleared the transaction in July, and the tribunal signed off after a rival airline asked it to block the deal.

Du Plessis set FlySafair against Comair, Kulula.com, SA Express and Mango, airlines that have collapsed in recent years, and said FlySafair's management, pilots and support staff deserve credit for its success.

Lanseria ambitions

Harith also holds a stake in Lanseria International Airport north of Johannesburg and wants the Gauteng provincial government to improve roads and other infrastructure around it. Du Plessis backed the call and suggested extending the Gautrain rail link to the airport.

Mahloele co-founded Harith in 2006 with backing from the Public Investment Corp., Africa's largest asset manager. The firm invests in roads, power, ports, airports and telecommunications across Africa.