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South Africa: Ministers Defend Bailout for Embattled National Airline
Daily Maverick, 29 October 2020
Despite protestations by the Finance Minister that the R10.5-billion allocation to SAA is not a 'bailout', it has the hallmarks of undeserved financial assistance. The cash for SAA… Read more »
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South Africa: Bailout for Floundering Airliner Nearly Equals a Year's Worth of School Infrastructure Funding
Section27, 29 October 2020
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), delivered yesterday, is devastating for many social services including basic education. The MTBPS… Read more »
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South Africa: Minister Pravin Gordhan Welcomes Government Funding for SAA
Govt of SA, 29 October 2020
Minister of Public Enterprises welcomes SAA funding, paves the way for restructuring and formation of new airline Read more »
Ministers Defend Bailout for Embattled South African Airline
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan have defended the controversial decision to secure South African Airways (SAA) a U.S.$643,838,000 lifeline that will see budgets of crucial service delivery programs cut to shift taxpayer funds to the bankrupt airline. Mboweni contends that unlike previous bailouts to SAA - amounting to roughly U.S.$3.4 billion since 1994 - the latest will set the airline on a path of recovery under a business rescue process. Previous government bailouts have directly funded SAA, helping it to pay debt to lenders, while the airline's financial situation deteriorated further because it last turned a profit in 2011. The decision was poorly received by public interest law centre Section27 who said the funds equal nearly a year's worth of school infrastructure funding.
InFocus
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South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has escalated his battle against the country's 1.3 million public servants over their salary increases, writes Ray Mahlaka for the Read more »
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The Department of Public Enterprises has urged pilots to accept South African Airways' voluntary severance packages. This comes as a majority of the embattled airliner's creditors ... Read more »
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South African national carrier, South African Airways, seems well on its way to receiving yet another R5 billion bailout from the government, much to the disapproval of the ... Read more »
A South African Airways Airbus landing at Munich Airport (file photo).
