Save “heavily-indebted” South African Airways – ANC

Heavily-indebted South African Airways (SAA) should be retained as a national airline but needs substantial restructuring, a top official in the governing African National Congress (ANC) party said on Wednesday.

SAA is running out of cash after the government failed to provide two billion rands ($138 million) of emergency funding it promised when the airline entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December.

Government officials say they still want to give SAA the promised funds, but Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is insisting the transfer be done in a way that avoids increasing the country’s budget deficit.

Time is running out for potential options that include the sale of state assets.

“SAA should be retained as a national airline, which will require substantial restructuring.

“The Cabinet should take the operational decisions needed to achieve this,’’ ANC Secretary-General, Ace Magashule, said.

Magashule, one of the ANC’s top six officials, was among those who attended a four-day meeting of ANC leaders to debate the economy and struggling state firms that ended on Monday.

SAA is among several South African state entities, including power company, Eskom, that are mired in financial crisis after nearly a decade of mismanagement.

State companies’ financial problems are seen as one of the biggest threats to Africa’s most industrialised economy and have helped to push the country’s credit rating to the brink of junk status.

On Tuesday, SAA said it had cancelled more than 20 domestic flights between its Johannesburg hub and Cape Town and Durban this week, and 10 international flights to and from Munich, to save dwindling cash reserves.