National SAA gets emergency bailout from Treasury SAA will receive R2.2bn to repay Standard Chartered Bank BL PREMIUM

The Treasury has given SAA an emergency bailout so it can repay a R2.207-billion loan from Standard Chartered Bank. Saturday’s announcement followed the UK bank’s rejection of a request by the troubled airline to extend the loan facility‚ which matured on Friday. A week ago‚ SAA sources told the Sunday Times of a two-month struggle to find the money‚ with the board sometimes meeting up to three times a week to discuss the issue. The Mail & Guardian reported that SAA chairman and close Jacob Zuma confidante Dudu Myeni had missed about eight board meetings since April. This had led board members to seek legal advice on how to proceed in Myeni’s absence. Under former finance minister Pravin Gordhan‚ the Treasury appointed a new SAA board in September to try to boost yet another turnaround plan for the airline. Saturday’s statement from the National Treasury said funds had been transferred to SAA from the National Revenue Fund. “This payment was done in terms of section 16 of the Public...