The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it has written to the business rescue practitioners (BRP) of South African Airways (SAA), Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana, urging them to immediately apply to court to have the airline liquidated. The DA says this is will prevent further wasteful bailouts to the national carrier which the party says could be better used to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The DA says the BRPs have asked creditors for yet another extension to submit their business rescue plan.
Given the collapse of ticket sales income as a result of the #Covid_19SA pandemic, on top of the dire financial position of the airline, it would be immoral for the SAA creditors to grant the SAA Rescue Practitioners another extension leading to wasteful bailouts. – @SquireLees
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) March 22, 2020
The BRP announced in February that their proposed restructuring plan from February 28 to March 31, 2020 has been approved by the majority of creditors. They further said that they are in the process of finalising the final plan.
The BRP further said in February that after they have considered and discussed the representations by the specified committees and the Public Enterprises Department, the final draft of the Business Rescue Plan will be published by the practitioners and will be voted upon by creditors at a special meeting.
The party has given the collapse of ticket sales income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It says on top of the dire financial position of the airline, it would be immoral for BRPs to be granted another extension to submit their proposed SAA business rescue plan.
SAA announced in February that it took a decision, together with the BRP, to ground certain local and international routes in an effort to make SAA financially sustainable. The embattled national carrier also announced the possible retrenchment of workers on the affected routes.
In the video below, President Cyril Ramaphosa says government does not support the cancellation of SAA flights.
Below is the DA statement requesting the SAA BRP to apply for the liquidation of the airline.
