SAA guarantee an error of judgement‚ says DA

10 September 2016 - 15:41 By TMG Digital

The Democratic Alliance has welcomed the conditions laid out for the Board of South African Airways by Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan at his meeting with the new directors of SAA on Friday.However‚ DA deputy spokesman on finance Alf Lees said the decision to grant SAA an unspecified going concern guarantee‚ which was believed to be in the range on R5 billion and would bring the total guarantee liability to the State to R20 billion‚ was a significant risk because the guarantee could not be revoked should the board be unable or unwilling to fulfil the conditions.“The fact is that Dudu Myeni has wrecked SAA and the Cabinet decision to reappoint her as chairperson of the board was irrational. That is why the DA is preparing its case for the reviewing of this appointment‚” Lees said.With Myeni’s mismanagement of SAA‚ as well as her apparent protection from President Jacob Zuma‚ there was a high risk that the board would fail to meet the conditions announced by the Finance Minister‚ Lees added. “There can be no illusion that the sensible thing to have done in order to give the new SAA board a fighting chance of saving SAA from total collapse would have been to remove Dudu Myeni from the board. “The DA remains resolute that the additional state guarantee should not have been granted as long as Dudu Myeni remained a member of the board at SAA‚” Lees stated...

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