Johannesburg - Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has revealed that South African Airways business rescue practitioners Siviwe Dongwana and Les Matuson have been paid R36 million since they were appointed in December to develop a rescue plan for the troubled airline.
Gordhan revealed this in written replies to parliamentary questions from EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu.
"The business rescue practitioners have been paid in accordance with the hours worked and set down rate for business rescue," he said.
The minister said Matuson and Associates was paid R22 208 689 and Dongwana's Adamantem R14 002 112 as of May 26.
He also said the pair did not benefit from the intervention relating to the Development Bank of Southern Africa's bridge facility other than payment in the normal course of the business rescue process done based on hours spent on transaction and set down rate for that practitioner.
Responding to another question from DA MP Alf Lees, Gordhan said Matuson, Dongwana and consultants were paid R80 700 334 for work done between December 2019 and January 2020.
Dongwana received R1 996 749 and Matuson R11 469 323 to provide business rescue and restructuring consulting.
Law firm Edward Nathan and Sonnenberg Incorporated was paid R12 154 325 to provide insolvency, commercial and labour law legal advice to the business rescue practitioners.
Financial advisory services company Alvarez & Marsal Europe Limited was paid R30 010 576 for providing aviation restructuring advice.
Auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers advisory services were paid R25 069 361 to provide advice on liquidation, cash flow projections and development of the airline sustainability model.
In another question from EFF MP Omphile Maotwe, Gordhan said 40 contracts were cancelled since SAA was placed under business rescue between February 20 and March 26.
He said the contracts, that ranged between one and 10-year terms, were valued between R18 000 and R3 billion.