Demand for full info about SAA funding

The DA will call for a full disclosure on the funding for the South African Airways (SAA) given that a further bailout of R5-billion‚ its third cash injection in just one year‚ may have been sourced.

It said national Treasury directorgeneral Dondo Mogajane had informed parliament’s standing committee on finance that the amount needed by SAA would not come out of public funds but would be sourced from either lenders or private equity.

“The DA has repeatedly tried to get answers about the cash position,” finance spokesman Alf Lees said.

“These inquiries have been repeatedly dismissed on the basis that the information is sensitive and would badly affect SAA’s ability to operate in a very competitive market.
“If the R5-billion has been paid to SAA‚ there will have been a total of R15-billion in bailouts to it.

“On top of this‚ the SAA turnaround plan only envisages a break-even in 2021‚ after losing about R12-billion in the next three years.”

Lees said it was patently obvious that the SAA had become a major risk to South Africa’s sovereign ratings.

“It is irresponsible to continue to bow to political ideological pressure to not put SAA into business rescue and then privatise it.”