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Cape Town - South African Airways has never been on top of the world and has had problems “all the time”, said President Jacob Zuma on Thursday.
During a question and answer session in the National Assembly, Zuma responded to a question posed by Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane who asked when SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni will be removed from her position.
“[SAA’s problems] started long before the people who are working there now,” Zuma said. “In fact, it’s thanks to these people (the current SAA board and management) that Parliament received a report on corruption,” Zuma said. “These people made it possible and the report indicates that the corruption at SAA has been going on for a long time.”
He also briefly referred to plans to recapitalise SAA.
“A decision has been taken to recapitalise SAA and turn it around. There are also other plans that will be announced soon so that SAA can become the company we all want,” Zuma said.
A week ago, Democratic Alliance MP Alf Lees revealed in Parliament a confidential Cabinet memo outlining government's proposal to sell its stake in Telkom worth about R14.4bn in a bid to recapitalise South African Airways (SAA), which requires a R10bn bailout.
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba criticised the revelation, and added that the Telkom sale was not a “done deal”.
This week, however, Telkom advised its shareholders to exercise caution when dealing with its shares, as it announced government’s proposal to reduce its 39% stake in the telecommunications firm.
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