No juice for Mango staff

SALARIES UNPAID: APPLICATION FOR FUNDS WAS MADE TO GOVT AND SAA, SAYS CEO

Dispute filed at Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

Mango did not pay staff salaries on the designated date yesterday and, according to a leaked internal e-mail, chief executive William Ndlovu warned staff payments were uncertain.

But he hoped there would be money available before monthend.

Ndlovu said in his e-mail: “We have applied to SAA for assistance. At this point we are not sure when our application will be approved by both SAA and the DPE [department of public enterprises] and the funds disbursed to Mango.”

Ndlovu also noted that there were no funds to cover salaries from revenues earned. Mango presently employs 749 staff.

Mango Pilots Association chair Jordan Butler is fuming. “It is a travesty that the staff are caught in the crossfire of what is clearly a political agenda.

“Especially after the sacrifices staff already made this year to keep the business afloat.”

Butler said they would go to work regardless and try and keep Mango going. But the staff were fed up, too.

Last week, Mango unions requested an urgent meeting with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to address the ongoing state of the airline. To date they have not received a response.

Yet, when Gordhan made his SAA equity partner announcement earlier this month, he indicated Mango and other SAA subsidiaries’ future would be considered during the due diligence process.

Mango’s Benediction Zubane said that the airline did not anticipate any service disruptions.

The National Transport Movement’s Koketso Lekwape said the union had filed a mutual dispute at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration scheduled for a Friday hearing.

SAA did not respond to a request for comment.