DA calls for SAA business rescue extension plan to be rejected

The Democratic Alliance has called on creditors to vote against the request by SAA’s business rescue practitioners for a fifth extension to its business rescue plan.

The comes after the BRPs, Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana, indicated they were seeking an extension until 15 June. This was due to unions objecting to the plan being published and to give them extra time to engage the government on the draft plan.

“This latest extension makes a complete mockery of the entire business rescue process and we are dismayed by the fact that Matuson and Dongwana have succumbed to pressure from the unions,” DA MP Alf Lees said in a statement.

Lees said the DA had questioned SAA’s business rescue process from the beginning and their latest extension request was confirmation that the BRPs were never in control of the process.

He said the Companies Act clearly indicated that the business rescue plan must be published within 25 days after the date on which the BRPs were appointed.

READ MORE: Another bailout for SAA, of R21bn, is not final yet, says government.

“The BRPs have therefore had six months, which is considerably more than the period stipulated in the Companies Act, to present their business rescue plan to creditors. The process, which was supposed to be finalized on 5 March 2020, is now three months overdue.

“The continued delays and extensions raise red flags about the validity and legality of the business rescue process, It is for this reason that the DA’s Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, Ghaleb Cachalia MP, requested that the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) review the fiduciary validity of the business rescue process at SAA,” he said.

“The DA will oppose any and every attempt by the ANC government to pump taxpayer money into a vanity project that does not contribute any benefit to South Africa’s fragile economy,” he concluded.

Last week, the DA had said that the government was planning to approve the draft rescue plan to hand SAA another bailout, this time of R21 billion.

(Compiled by Molefe Seeletsa)

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