DA claim govt ready to grant SAA R21bn bailout
The Democratic Alliance (DA) claims government has agreed to grant South African Airways (SAA) a bailout of R21 billion.
The opposition party says this information has been detailed in the draft business rescue plan for the embattled airline.
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But in a statement sent out on Monday, the Department of Public Enterprises says it has not made any final decisions on the proposals made by the SAA business rescuers.
The DA’s Alf Lees claims that the draft plan also suggests that SAA should fall under a new holding company.
"The draft business rescue plan envisages the ‘new SAA’ to fall under a new holding company called ‘New HoldCo’ which shall also oversee SAA City Centre (SACC), SAA Technical, Air Chefs, and Mango airlines.
"Renewed plans by the BRPs calling for the establishment of a new airline are hardly surprising. It follows a spirited political campaign by Gordhan to discredit the business rescue process and resurrect the folly of failure by calling for the establishment of a new state airline."
Lees adds that the airline is expected to operate at a loss in the first three years, should the plan be implemented.
"These losses exclude trading losses by Mango, SAA Technical, Air Chefs, and SACC subsidiaries which are also likely to rake up tens of thousands or even billions of rands in losses."