South African Airways’s business-rescue team said it’s been given access to 3.5 billion rand ($239 million) from the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa to avert the airline’s collapse, Bloomberg News reported. The team will immediately draw down 2 billion rand from the facility, they said in a statement on Tuesday. SAA has already canceled some flights this month to save cash after the government missed a deadline to provide the money as part of the terms of its bankruptcy protection. Bloomberg News earlier reported that the bank was considering providing funding.
The head of South Africa’s state power company will this week present a draft plan to change how the utility operates, as local media reported he’s considering unbundling the utility at a slower pace than envisaged by the government, Bloomberg News reported. Stabilizing Eskom SOC Holdings Ltd. is the government’s top priority. The company has more than 450 billion rand ($31 billion) of debt and the cost of servicing those loans is higher than the revenue it’s generating.
South African Airways said “time is of the essence” for the government to provide a pledged cash injection if the loss-making national carrier is to continue flying, Bloomberg News reported. The National Treasury agreed last month to give the airline 2 billion rand ($140 million) as part of the terms of its bankruptcy protection, but has yet to follow through. SAA canceled 38 flights this week to save money and warned that further cuts may be in the offing.
Heavily-indebted South African Airways (SAA) should be retained as a national airline but needs substantial restructuring, a top official in the governing African National Congress (ANC) party said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. SAA is running out of cash after the government failed to provide 2 billion rand ($138 million) of emergency funding it promised when the airline entered a form of bankruptcy protection last month.
A financial crisis at South African Airways deepened Tuesday as a funding squeeze forced the national carrier to cancel several domestic and international flights. Eight flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town will be cut this week, and 20 between Johannesburg and Durban, the carrier said in an emailed statement. It also canceled 10 flights between Johannesburg and Munich, Bloomberg News reported. The move is “in line with SAA’s usual policy of reviewing flights and consolidating services with low demand,” and is aimed at saving money, the carrier said.
Less than a month into 2020, South African companies have already announced thousands of job cuts. In a country where a third of the labor force is already unemployed, this will put even more strain on demand and economic growth, Bloomberg News reported. Almost 6,000 jobs are at risk as companies including Telkom SA SOC Ltd., the country’s largest fixed-line operator, and Walmart Inc.’s local unit Massmart Holdings Ltd. plan to reduce their headcount after slumps in earnings. That’s after Sibanye Gold Ltd.
South Africa’s Public Enterprises Ministry said on Sunday it was talking with the Treasury to raise funds to rescue South African Airways (SAA), following a meeting with business rescue specialists at the weekend, Reuters reported. The airline is one of several state entities, including power company Eskom, struggling with debt after nearly a decade of mismanagement. Their woes are seen as the single greatest threat to Africa’s most industrialised economy and have been largely responsible for bringing South Africa’s credit rating to the brink of junk.
South Africa is scrambling to secure extra funding to rescue South African Airways (SAA), which last month entered a form of bankruptcy protection in a last-ditch bid to save the state-owned company and around 10,000 related jobs, Reuters reported. Tito Mboweni, the country’s finance minister, told business leaders in Johannesburg ahead of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos next week that the Treasury had provided “financial support to the best of our abilities”.
State-owned South African Airways (SAA) urgently needs the government to provide the 2 billion rand it promised the airline last month or it could have to suspend some flights and delay salary payments, a senior trade union official said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. SAA entered a form of bankruptcy protection last month in an effort to rescue the company and 10,000 related jobs. At the time it was promised 2 billion rand from the government and 2 billion rand from lenders.
State-owned power producer Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will be the “death knell” for South Africa’s mining industry unless the government enables mines to produce their own electricity, according to Exxaro Resources Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Mxolisi Mgojo, Bloomberg News reported. “The current state of Eskom is going to be the one thing that is going to be the death knell of this industry,” Mgojo said at a conference organized by Business Unity South Africa, the country’s largest business lobby group, on Tuesday. “Without fixing Eskom we don’t have a mining industry.