To stop the bailouts and without a willing buyer Cabinet has only one option on SAA, shut it down!

14 April 2020

When President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Cabinet meet tomorrow they have one course of action to take on SAA, which is to shut it down and free the taxpayer from the burden of unending bailouts.

In a media briefing today, Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, revealed that “more clarity on the proposed closure of SAA and SA Express would likely be provided following the Cabinet briefing tomorrow (Wednesday)”.

SAA has been a drag on the fiscus for years due to billions of rands in unending bailouts. This has not only compromised South Africa’s public finances, it has also taken scarce financial resources away from improving service delivery and investments in public infrastructure.

Cabinet should therefore walk the talk and put their money where their mouth is by shutting down SAA. Any economic structural reform effort that keeps wasting money on a dysfunctional business entity like SAA will be a betrayal to all South Africans who have to contend with high levels of unemployment and a  floundering economy.

Issued by Alf Lees,DA Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, 14 April 2020