BusinessLive reports that the government has told the South African Airways (SAA) business rescue practitioners (BRPs) that it is unable to provide the airline with further funding.  It also refused a request to raise funding for the airline in foreign capital markets.  

This portends the national carrier’s imminent death or at best an orderly winding down.  SAA is unable to raise further funding in domestic markets and owes significant debt to a consortium of local banks.  The BRPs, Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana, advised creditors of the development on Tuesday, saying that they were “assessing the impact of this development on the business rescue process and will communicate any developments in due course.”  They had advised the government that a minimum of a further R7.7bn would be required to fund SAA into the next phase.  In a statement completely at odds with the BRPs letter to creditors, the Department of Public Enterprises said on Tuesday that SAA, like all airlines, had been affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, but that the government remained committed to saving the company.  To that end it the said that it continued “to engage the Business Rescue Practitioners and other stakeholders, including unions, to explore options going forward with the necessary urgency.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton and Warren Thompson at BusinessLive

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