South African Airways board member and chairperson of the Board Implementation Committee, Martin Kingston, says that the airline will need a government loan guarantee to avoid liquidation.<\/p>\n
Speaking in an SABC News<\/a><\/strong> interview on Wednesday (20 November), Kingston said that these financial issues mean that the industrial action must stop immediately if the national carrier is to be salvaged.<\/p>\n “At the moment, Rome is burning. We don\u2019t have the time or the luxury to consider industrial action. This strike is actually pushing us over the precipice rather than helping salvage the airline.<\/p>\n “Unless we are able to secure guarantees from national treasury – and we\u2019re in discussions with them as you and I speak – then the board will have to recommend to government that actually it be placed in liquidation.<\/p>\n He added that the country’s banks will not offer any more credit until the government provides this guarantee.<\/p>\n “We need to be confident that we have the financial wherewithal to trade for the next 12 months on a solvent basis. That is not currently the case.”<\/p>\n Government not budging<\/strong><\/p>\n Government has ruled out an intervention in the ongoing battle between the struggling state airline and unions leading a strike, with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan refusing to step in to fund wage demands.<\/p>\n