The government is hell bent on saving SAA which has to be liquidated as proposed by the Business Rescue Practitioners and this means more pain for the taxpayer. SAA made a presentation its financial to the Standing Committee in Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the combined losses for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 amounted to R16 billion. The airline has not been profitable since 2012 and has received R57 billion in bailouts since 1994. SAA got emergency funding from the Development Bank of South Africa in February 2020 that amounted to R3.5 billion. Members of SCOPA were told that SAA was unable to pay salaries this month and that all workers were on unpaid leave. The state remains a shareholder and also a regulator of aviation services in the form of the Department of Transportation. The state can save SAA by selling more than 75% of its shareholding to private shareholders. On #SAfmSunrise with Stephen Grootes spoke to Unathi Sonwabile Henama- Tourism Lecturer at TUT

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