Thank you, hon House Chair. I think what we are doing here we are forgetting what is the root cause of why SA Airways and other state-owned entities
are in the position that it is today ... please do. First of all, let me highlight some of the challenges; SA Airways technical they contravened all the regulations, they disposed of our assets which we bought at R800 000 each and they sold them at R240 000 and the company that bought them then entered into a joint venture and secured a contract in South Africa for R1,46 billion. And, we are expecting SA Airways to succeed?
Coleman Andrews takes your entire fleet after being paid over R200 million for the two and a half-year contract. That is what his salary was. He sells his entire fleet and decides to go and lease the fleet again. So, you are still telling me that SA Airways can be successful. You get a R1,6 billion bail-out but you give R326 million in sponsorships. Does that make sense?
The solution is not in the sale or the privatisation, it is to deal with the root causes of why SA Airways is ... Yes, indeed, I think a business rescue with independent administration and supervision is the route to go if we want to save the SA Airways. I am not saying that SA Airways should remain solely a state-owned entity because
there is ... I cannot understand that with the challenges that the SA Airways faces currently - bankrupt as it is - you have the unions demanding an 8% increase. The question that I asked was: had there been a private industry, will they be demanding 8% or not?
Now, we have a call centre that we are operating from ... [Inaudible.] ... we have evergreen contracts that continue, we have water - the very same water which cost about R2 - which we are paying exorbitant amounts for, and very little or nothing ... I am told that our staff complement of almost 11 000 is three or four times more than any other airline for the number of flights that you have. The question is, if we will continue in this route surely we cannot expect it to be successful. As government we know these problems exist and the question is; what are we doing about it? If we don't have power and the control to be able to deal with it, put it under business rescue, let there be independent administration, give a guarantee ... [Inaudible.] ... [Time expired.] ... travellers that they won't lose their money otherwise they uncertainty ... [Inaudible.] ... SA Airways.
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