DA: Gigaba’s SAA R10bn bailout is grossly misleading

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba. Picture: Reuters

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba. Picture: Reuters

Published Aug 25, 2017

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Cape Town – The DA believes Malusi Gigaba’s SAA R10 billion bailout is disingenuous at best, grossly misleading at worst and ‘has blown the negotiations’.

The DA says SAA has been in trouble for over a decade and is now in very serious trouble due to the ANC government’s utter failure to turn it around.

According to a DA statement on Friday, Gigaba reportedly said that ‘the statement by DA member Alf Lees that a R10bn recapitalisation of SAA was on the cards… has blown the negotiations. 

SAA had lost its leverage, according to the DA, and Gigaba is horribly mistaken.

The Standard Chartered Bank demanded payment from SAA in June this year and this no doubt caused other banks to demand payment.

If there were any leverage, it was blown when Standard and Chartered refused to roll over its R2.2 billion loan to SAA two months ago.

The bank’s lack of confidence in SAA and South African government has nothing to do with the DA’s revelations in Parliament and everything to do with a complete lack of confidence, based on the very actions of the ANC government and their mismanagement of SAA’s finances, the statement said. 

The Minister of Finance needs to face up to this fact and to finally do what is needed – put SAA into business rescue and to find private equity investors, according to their statement. 

BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE

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