Two South African trade unions are seeking court action to try to block layoffs at the embattled state-owned South African Airways (SAA), court papers seen by Reuters on Friday showed, Reuters reported. SAA entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December and rescue specialists Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana proposed severance packages for all of SAA’s roughly 5,000-strong workforce last month after the government said it would not provide any more funds. They gave trade unions until the end of business on Friday to reach an agreement on staff severances.

South African retailer Edcon will file for bankruptcy protection in the next few days, it said on Wednesday, becoming the country’s first major corporate casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. Edcon said it had lost 2 billion rand ($108 million) of sales since the virus reached South Africa in early March and the government responded with a nationwide lockdown that forced non-essential shops to close.

A South African court placed state-owned SA Express under “provisional liquidation” on Tuesday after the airline’s administrators said rescue efforts weren’t likely to succeed, Reuters reported. SA Express, which flies to domestic and regional destinations, entered a form of bankruptcy protection earlier this year after losing a court battle with a contractor, logistics firm Ziegler. It later suspended all operations as the global COVID-19 pandemic caused demand for flights to plunge and governments to impose travel restrictions.

South Africa’s government and specialists appointed to try to save the state-owned airline have agreed to extend a deadline for trade unions to agree staff severance terms, a letter from the public enterprises department showed on Saturday, Reuters reported. South African Airways (SAA) entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December and its fortunes deteriorated further when the coronavirus pandemic forced it to suspend all commercial flights.

South African Airways (SAA) faces a wind-down or liquidation after specialists appointed to try to save the state-owned airline said on Thursday they had run out of funds, Reuters reported. SAA has been fighting for its survival since it entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December. Its fortunes deteriorated further when the coronavirus pandemic forced it to suspend all commercial flights. It has already offered severance packages to its workforce of roughly 5,000 people after the government said it would not provide more funds for rescue efforts.

South Africa’s government has been urged to rescue its state-owned agricultural bank to avoid the risk of farmers being starved of access to financing and threatening food security, Bloomberg News reported. Failure by the Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa to lend to farmers and agri-processing businesses would have a “massive impact” on local food supplies, said Omri Van Zyl, the executive director for AgriSA, the nation’s largest farmers group. The Land Bank is seeking waivers from its lenders after missing a loan repayment, triggering a default event.

South Africa is considering bailing out yet another state-owned company, at a time when it needs all the money it can get to revive an economy felled by the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The National Treasury said Tuesday it’s mulling more aid for the nation’s largest agricultural lender, the Land and Agricultural Development Bank, in the form of a recapitalization and more guarantees on its debt. Last week, the state-owned national airline failed to convince the government it needs extra financial aid, although talks on alternatives for South African Airways continue.

The South African government will work with unions to ensure that a new financially viable and competitive airline emerges from South African Airways (SAA) business rescue process, the Public Enterprises Ministry said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The airline entered a form of bankruptcy protection in December, since then it has had to suspend all commercial passenger flights due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

South African Airways (SAA) is offering severance packages to its entire workforce of around 5,000 workers, a proposal by the airline’s administrators showed, after the government said it wouldn’t provide more funds for rescue efforts, Reuters reported. The proposal, which was put to trade unions this week and hasn’t been agreed with them, is the latest sign that state-owned SAA is on the brink of collapse. Talks with unions will resume on Monday.

South African Airways has been denied any further funding by its government owner as the national carrier looks for ways to recover from the coronavirus crisis and a local form of bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. The airline’s administrators, who were put in charge in December, were told by the state to instead source cash from available resources, according to a letter they sent to affected parties and to Bloomberg News dated April 14.