Parliament – MPs heard on Friday from South African Airways's business rescue practitioners that a lack of funding severely hampered their work, while Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan questioned their spending decisions and their future objectives for the stricken national carrier.
He said the deadline the team faced in terms of submitting a business rescue plan to the government as the shareholder became impossible to meet as the Covid-19 pandemic struck and South Africa went into lockdown, and the company's aircraft were effectively grounded. Gordhan replied that the tussle over funding and a viable restructuring plan, and which should come first, could be likened to a "chicken and egg" debate."The answer is simple – clearly if money is to be spent, it must be spent in terms of the requirements of what a plan provides for," the minister said.
Gordhan said winding down the airline was not an alternative, and was not set out in the directives given to the business rescue practitioners.
Shut it down for once useless gov
They must stop acting on us