Cape Town - The Standing Committee on Public Accounts has demanded answers from SAA for its failure to submit audited financial statements for two years in a row.
Scopa members told the Department of Public Enterprises on Wednesday they were not happy that for two years the airline has not submitted the financial statements as required by the law.
The Public Finance Management Act requires that a department or state-owned entity must submit financial statements within a few months after the end of the financial year.
Entities and departments submit their financial statements by the end of September in Parliament every year.
If there is a delay they must ask for an extension from the Speaker, Thandi Modise, and provide reasons for this.
But SAA, which is cash-strapped, has not been able to do so.
It was placed under business rescue last December due to the cash crunch.
Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said it was unacceptable that the airline has up to now failed to submit the financial statements, which is in breach of the law.
“The last time SAA was here it was said SAA did not submit because of a legal opinion. We want to see that legal opinion,” said Hlengwa.
Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan told Scopa the business rescue practitioners were still working at SAA.
They will finish their work in March and then submit a report on what needs to happen.
He said when the process of business rescue began last December the practitioners had to decide whether to liquidate the company or put it into business rescue.
They chose business rescue because the airline can still be saved, he said.