Despite billions of rands of taxpayer money being thrown into the SAA black hole, the airline remains a mess. The Auditor-General has painted a dire picture of financial results not being produced on time by SAA, together with a lack of skills, poor record-keeping and ballooning irregular expenditure.

State-owned SAA has received taxpayer-funded bailouts worth R38.1-billion since 2018. And despite this support, the airline's ability to fly without more help from the government remains in question.

The government's support of SAA over the past six years is contained in the Auditor-General's report -- presented in Parliament on Tuesday -- on the airline's audit outcomes for its financial years dating back to 2018.

According to the Auditor-General's report, from 1 April 2018 to 3 April 2023, the government has thrown R38.1-billion to SAA, of which R27.6-billion was paid to the airline after it entered business rescue in December 2019.

In April 2021, SAA exited business rescue and is still in the throes of its ownership being restructured to allow private sector investors to buy 51% of the airline from the government.

The public is still in the dark about SAA's financial situation as the airline's financial statements were last finalised and fully presented in Parliament in 2018 -- six years ago.

The Auditor-General's report states that the audits for SAA's financial years from 2018 to 2022 "have been completed" but the full extent of the airline's financial situation has not been disclosed or tabled in Parliament. For most of...