Riyaz Patel
A South African Airways (SAA) board member said Wednesday the embattled national carrier needs a government guarantee to help it secure bank funding or risk being liquidated.
Martin Kingston said SAA’s dire financial situation meant it was in no position to up its wage offer to striking unions, and the industrial action was only making the state-owned airline’s position more perilous.
Unless we are able to secure guarantees from national treasury – and we’re in discussions with them as you and I speak – then the board will have to recommend to government that actually it be placed in liquidation,” he said.
As the crippling strike entered its sixth day, the Department of Public Enterprises underlined Wednesday there was no more money in public coffers for SAA, with multiple bailouts for the airline and other ailing state-run firms becoming a “moral hazard.”
“At the moment, Rome is burning. We don’t have the time or the luxury to consider industrial action,” Kingston said.
Talks between SAA, NUMSA and SACCA – the two unions that called the strike – broke down Wednesday evening, after the unions were adamant they will not accept the current wage offer and would escalate their action.
“For us, the strike continues,” said NUMSA Spokeswoman Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, adding that a strike certificate has been issued at Comair as part of a secondary strike against SAA.
NUMSA and SACCA warned Sunday that they would expand their strike action and “could shut down the entire aviation sector.”
Kingston said it will become apparent in the next month whether SAA can trade its way out of the current situation.
The cash-strapped airline has cancelled hundreds of flights since the strike began on Friday, with the stoppage initially costing R50 million per day, though that figure has come down as some flights have resumed.
