SAA cannot account for approximately R60 million - parliamentary statement (22 June 2005)The provisions of the Public Finance Management Act regarding irregular expenditure must be seriously considered. If indeed it has the information implied in the article, SAA should not hesitate to bring charges against its former CEO, Mr Viljoen and his executive team. The unequivocal message that officials in the civil service and public enterprises must receive is that abuse of taxpayer money will not be tolerated.
We urge SAA to act swiftly, given its recent poor record on financial matters in the past number of years. First the taxpayer forked over a ridiculous golden handshake to former SAA boss Coleman Andrews, in effect rewarding him for poor performance. Since then SAA has been investigated for uncompetitive behaviour and incurred an avoidable hedging loss totalling billions of Rand. SAA also continues to dominate the market for inbound foreign travellers, and with its failure to provide adequate capacity it is stifling our tourism industry.
This litany of management and financial errors has turned what was once Government’s leading and most profitable transport asset into a farce. The current international aviation environment is unforgiving in the wake of 11 September 2001 and sky-rocketing fuel costs. Serious remedies are required to prevent further losses to the taxpayer and the destruction of a once valuable national asset.
