SAA rescue practitioners are threatening to quit the process

JOHANNESBURG – SAA Business rescue practitioners (BRPs) have threatened to quit the process, plunging the embattled airline further into a crisis, with fears that the next step could be the liquidation of the embattled national carrier.

In a notice published late yesterday, SAA joint rescuers Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana said they were now left with only two remaining options to rescue the cash-strapped airline or it would crash land.

Matuson and Dongwa said the options put powers of deciding the future of SAA in the hands of the workers, after the government turned down the practitioners’ request for another R10 billion bailout last week.

The two said the funding would have contemplated the restructuring of the airline to maximise its likelihood to continue on a solvent basis or, at a minimum, care and maintenance until the travel bans were lifted.

The rescuers said the first option entailed a wind-down process with the employment of workers terminated by agreement, with severance packages being agreed. They said this included the selling of assets which would ultimately result in a distribution of proceeds to affected parties in terms of the business rescue waterfall.