News24 reports that a committee of Parliament will be looking into the liquidation three years ago of SA Express (SAX) after receiving a petition from a representative of the 691 workers who lost their jobs.

Petitioner Hlumani Khasibe said former employees were struggling and had received minimal payouts and support. He asked why state-owned airline SA Airways (SAA) received bailouts, but SAX did not. “At the end of the day, SAA was bailed out, yet we were left in the cold,” he pointed out. Khasibe indicated in a letter to the committee that the 691 workers were still owed salaries from before the airline was wound up. They were also owed pension and provident payouts, as well as retrenchment packages. “The government stole from us!” he lamented.

The Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings is now planning to schedule hearings with the defunct airline’s business rescue practitioners and liquidators to hear how and why it couldn’t be rescued. The committee, which is part of the National Council of Provinces, receives and considers petitions from the public. Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy deflected questions about the airline’s demise and indicated: “At the end of the day, those who must explain the decisions are the business rescue practitioners and liquidators. They must explain why labour is not receiving a share of the proceedings.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Cronje at News24 (subscription / trial registration required)

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