Last Wednesday evening, looking into his laptop camera, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan gave the country’s public representatives an emphatic commitment: the R10.5bn for SAA that was scraped together by raiding budgets for libraries and HIV/Aids treatment, among others, is the last money the airline will ask from the government.
“We have been absolutely categorical in our discussions with our potential strategic equity partners that government is not going to put any money into this process other than the assets it already has,” Gordhan told a joint meeting of the standing committee on public accounts and the portfolio committee on public enterprises.