SA Express employees have handed over a memorandum of grievances to officials from the Presidency. Hundreds of SA Express employees have staged a protest outside Parliament in Cape Town.
A march also took place from Kempton Park head offices to the Union Buildings. They want President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene.
Workers are demanding their salaries and say that they have not been paid since March 2020.
SA Express was placed under provisional liquidation in April by the Johannesburg High Court.
SA Express workers representatives Thabisile Kekana says, “Unfortunately, we are where we are right now because of that maladministration and those people are not here. They are not part of us. They are not suffering. They are out there having a good time with their families.”
“The funds were supposedly allocated to us but they’ve never gotten to us. Final liquidation hearing is on the 9th, Tuesday. Our medical aids have been cancelled we don’t have pensions.”
“Should the liquidation process be finalised on Tuesday, we will not even be able to access our pensions and our provident funds which I think is very unfair.”
In May, the employment contracts of the SA Express employees were suspended, paving the way for the beginning of the liquidation process.
Acting Director-General Kgathatso Tlhakudi said the lives of the workers at the airline will remain uncertain until everything is sorted out.
In the video below, Public Enterprise Department presents its annual performance plan and budget:
Aviation experts said the sector urgently needs government support to prevent more companies from going under. Independent transport economist Dr Joachim Vermooten noted that “No scheduled airline, even though well-capitalized, will be able to sustain the financial impact of the grounding orders applied to airlines.”
