The Johannesburg High Court placed the embattled state-owned SA Express under provisional liquidation on Tuesday after business rescuers failed to mitigate its financial losses.
The move will affect over 700 workers employed at the company.
However, the ruling in the high court means affected parties can still give reasons why the airline shouldn’t be liquidated before a final order is made.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said in a statement: “Government is reviewing its options in all airline assets.”
SA Express was placed under Business Rescue last month due to financial pressures that resulted from years of poor management, corruption, irregular contracts and State Capture.
The application was brought by ZieglerSA, a service provider to SA Express.
Department of Public Enterprises said in a media statement last month that the government mandated the Board and management to investigate and terminate a number of irregular contracts as a way to save money and root out corruption.
“The Ziegler SA contract was one of these. The contribution of some members of previous leadership teams in the poor management of the airline needs to be investigated, and where appropriate, for justice to take its course,” said DPE.
DPE also said that the allegations that the government deliberately withheld financial support to the rescuers and that the Department’s approach to the process was unconstructive, were baseless.
(Compiled by Inside Politics staff
