State-owned airline South African Airways (SAA) has spent R9.4m on purchasing almost six million copies of the Gupta-owned newspaper the New Age\u201a the Democratic Party says.<\/p>\n
DA spokesperson on public enterprises Natasha Mazzone said this was despite the embattled airline remaining in financial crisis and relying directly on government funding to remain a going concern.<\/p>\n
She added that this had been revealed by the Minister of Finance\u201a Nhanhla Nene\u201a in reply to a parliamentary question. Nene stated that since March 2011\u201a SAA had purchased 5\u201a927\u201a000 copies of The New Age that were supplied to domestic on-board flights\u201a lounges and airports.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that the newspaper is both owned by the politically-connected Gupta family\u201a and has an editorial stance which is unashamedly pro-Zuma\u201a requires Minister Lynne Brown to assure every taxpaying South African that the agreement is above reproach and free from political interference\u201a\u201d Mazzone asserted.<\/p>\n
She said she would write to Brown on Sunday\u201a requesting she institute an independent probe into the decision making for this expenditure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe probe must consider whether the President or his acolytes had any influence on the agreement between SAA and the New Age\u201a whether such spending is financially viable given the current state of SAA\u201a and why the New Age was chosen ahead of any other national newspaper\u201a\u201d Mazzone added.<\/p>\n
She said there no doubting the fact that SAA was in a financial crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn January this year\u201a SAA received a R6.5bn guarantee from the Treasury\u201a bringing the total guarantees it has been given to R14.5bn. Debt costs are expected to amount to R500m for the 2014-15 financial year from R250m in the previous period. SAA reported a R2.5bn loss in the 2013-14 financial period\u201a up from R1.7bn in the previous financial year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to this\u201a SAA sees it fit to handsomely compensate its most senior staff. The total remuneration paid to 13 board members in the 2014\/15 financial year was a combined R12\u201a631\u201a303\u201a with former CEO and director Monwabisi Kalawe earning a handsome R4\u201a552\u201a981 and CFO Wolf Meyer taking home R3\u201a661\u201a080.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a State-Owned Entity to be in such a torrid financial situation requires the most astute financial decision making from its management. Therefore Minister Brown needs to show concrete proof indicating that the decision to spend almost R10 million on a newspaper which is owned by the President\u2019s closest friends was a sound one \u2013 not one based on political interference\u201a\u201d Mazzone said.<\/p>\n