BusinessLive reports that Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday that the government would try to find funds to assist desperate employees of bankrupt, state-owned SA Express who have not been paid for several months.  

But he told MPs that given the fiscal constraints faced by the state, money was difficult to access.  SA Express, which owes creditors more than R2bn, was placed under provisional liquidation on 29 April after its business rescue practitioners indicated that it had no prospect of survival.  The airline’s employees, whose contracts of employment have been suspended, have not been paid for March, April and May, apart from some payments under the Ters relief fund.  MPs were recently told by the provisional liquidator that there was no guarantee that the 691 employees would receive retrenchment pay as this would have to be paid out of the residual proceeds after the sale and creditors had claims against the company of R900m.  The workers engaged in a protest at the offices of the DPE to demand government assistance in the payment of salaries and severance packages.  Gordhan said his department would explore what further assistance could be provided to the workers, with the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive

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