JOHANNESBURG - The financial troubles of SAA are not over with Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba asking Parliament to delay the tabling of its results.
This is despite the fact the results are overdue by more than five months after he initially asked for the deadline to be extended from last September to January 28.
In a letter to Speaker Baleka Mbete yesterday (THUR) Gigaba said they still needed to resolve technical issues with the Auditor-General before tabling the financial statements in Parliament.
The airline has been in financial trouble for some time and Cabinet appointed a new board last year to stabilise it.
SAA told Parliament late last year it was projecting a loss of R4 billion at the end of March. This is higher than expected.
In his letter Gigaba stated he had already indicated a last September about the delays.
Gigaba had asked for extension until the end of January, and yesterday he asked for another extension until the end of April.
“This was due to technical accounting matters which were raised by external auditors (Auditor-General). The matters are yet to be resolved with the external auditors. It is on this basis that I request your indulgence to extend the deadline for the tabling of SAA’s annual financial statements to a date not later than April 30,” said Gigaba.
Before he tables the results in Parliament they have to be presented and approved at the Annual General Meeting.
SAA is required by the law to hold its AGM within 15 months of the previous AGM. Its last AGM was in October 2016.
“SAA, in pursuant to section 61 of the Companies Act has requested an extension of time to hold its AGM beyond the 15 months’ deadline which expired on January 28, 2018 from the Companies Tribunal of SA. The Companies Tribunal has granted SAA’s extension to hold its AGM on a date not later than March 31,” wrote Gigaba.
The delay in the results of SAA comes after Gigaba faced questions in Parliament on the structural reforms at State-Owned Entities.
Gigaba said the reforms would continue and President Cyril Ramaphosa would now set in motion the Presidential Coordinating Commission to get SOEs to improve their financial performance and liquidity.
Director-General in the National Treasury Dondo Mogajane said they were fixing the SOEs with the appointment of new boards at Eskom and SAA.
“When you address these measures of structural reforms in the SOEs, at Eskom and SAA, putting the right people in the boards and management you will begin to see the green shoots,” Mogajane told MPs.
He said National Treasury agreed with many people that the government cannot continue to bail out the entities.
“It is important we improve governance and liquidity constraints that are there. We took a decision at Eskom and that’s what we will do at all SOEs,” he said.