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Cape Town – South African Airways (SAA) was not able to pay its dues to suppliers at the end of June as a result of the liquidity crisis at the national carrier, Parliament heard on Friday.
Democratic Alliance MP Alf Lees asked SAA chief financial officer Phumeza Nhantsi what the airline’s situation is with regard to payment of salaries and suppliers.
Nhantsi said salaries are being prioritised and “arrangements” have been made with suppliers.
“We couldn’t pay all our suppliers 100% at the end of July – only some of them. The simple answer is we didn’t pay 100% of the monies,” she said.
Lees asked her if SAA had made arrangements for extended debt, and how the airline was going to honour its payments for August, for example. “Does this mean you need to pay them what you owed in July over and above what is due at the end of August?”
Nhantsi said “some of the payments” were moved to the end of August. “Other arrangements with suppliers include not paying them a lump sum, but on a weekly basis, so that we don’t owe them double or triple. We therefore pay as and when we get revenue.”
