Talks fail as workers ground SAA flights

Unions called for the strike today as wage negotiations stall.

The select committee on public accounts (Scopa) has given cashstrapped South African Airways (SAA) a week to explain why it did not submit its annual financial statements for the past two consecutive financial years and gave it just a week to bring the documents and a road map.

The committee was dismayed that the airline had failed to comply with the law to account on how it spent its funds for the financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19.

“Scopa has made it clear to SAA that it must come up with a detailed road map to show when it will submit the outstanding annual financial statements. Failure to draw up this road map will force Scopa to set a deadline for SAA to submit the financials,” said chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa.

He said a nonsubmission of financials constituted noncompliance with the Public Finance Management Act and also robbed parliament of its mandate to conduct oversight over SAA, as it cannot interrogate the performance of the entity through its annual report.

One of the reasons the airline failed to produce annual reports was its fear of disclaimer audit reports from the auditor-general. But Scopa disagreed because it has to account for its financials in terms of the law and the committee has to do its oversight duty, as it does with all state entities and government departments.

“The committee does not accept the assertion by SAA that it is not prepared to shoulder risks associated with a disclaimed audit opinion from the auditorgeneral.

“SAA does not have the pleasure of choosing whether they want to follow the law or not.

“As a state-owned entity, SAA has an obligation to submit annual financial statements on time, despite the consequences, to enable parliament to conduct its oversight,” Hlengwa said.

At a hearing in parliament on Wednesday, the committee demanded that SAA bring several documents that would show how it landed in its current crisis and has to do so by noon on Wednesday next week.

Its board is expected to submit a legal opinion that states that business rescue is not an option for SAA, a road map for its annual report and the airline’s restructuring plan.

The committee invited SAA, the department of public enterprises, National Treasury and the auditor-general to meet on November 27 to discuss the reasons for nonsubmission of SAA’s financial statements and give a progress report regarding the road map.

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali asked thar questions be e-mailed to him, but failed to respond by the time of going to print.