The DA’s proposed date for the hearing is 21 July 2020.
Geordin Hill-Lewis MP – DA Shadow Minister of Finance said: “If Mboweni does not confirm that no public funds will be dispersed using section 16, we will approach the courts on an urgent basis to stop him from doing so.”
On Wednesday, 15 July Mboweni signed a letter committing “to mobilise funding for the short, medium and long term requirements to create a… national airline”.
“It remains to be seen where they will find the money. It would be totally unacceptable to inject yet another bailout into SAA using public money, or to offer government guarantees for new loans. Even this commitment shows Minister Mboweni has backtracked on his previous stance not to countenance any further support for the bankrupt airline.
Mboweni has often spoken out against providing any more support to bankrupt state owned entities like SAA. He has made this, correctly, an issue of principle. If he is forced by the ANC and Cabinet to disburse public funds to SAA again, then he will have to carefully reconsider his position in the government.”
Lewis-Hill said there was no emergency that warranted the “extraordinary shortcutting of usual appropriation processes” as the company had been in financial decline for over a decade. Further, there was “nothing exceptional” about the required funding and postponing the funding would not prejudice the public interest.
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