Economists doubt SAA is ‘debt-free’, demand to see financial statements

National Treasury insists that the embattled state-owned airline has cleared its debts - but economists say they need to see the financial statements to believe it.

SAA’s financials have not been audited since 2017/18 due to years of losses and irregular expenditure.

Economists have questioned National Treasury’s assurances that South African Airways is now “debt-free” and want to see the airline’s financial statements before they believe it.

The Treasury made the assertion in a written reply to a parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance’s Alf Lees last month.
Lees asked whether SAA had received any financial support from the government in the 2022/23 financial year.

In response, Treasury said SAA had not received any additional funding and that its “current liabilities are settled through normal business operations”.
Treasury added: “SAA is currently not receiving any financial support from the fiscus. The entity settled its liabilities, including historical debt.”

However, the economists say they need to see the financial statements to verify this.
Economist Mike Schussler said Treasury’s statement was “a bit vague”.
“How do you settle a historical debt if you don’t pay it?” he asked.

Economist Dawie Roodt said he was sceptical of the claim.
“I don’t believe it. I think they are just trying to pull the wool over our eyes,” he said.

SAA has not had its financial statements audited since the 2017/18 financial year.
This is because the airline has been making losses for years and has incurred irregular expenditure. Its last set of audited financial statements showed that it had accumulated losses of R16.8-billion.
SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali did not respond to a request for comment.