(4 minutes)
· South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said that the opposition party- Democratic Alliance (DA’s) – effort to approach the court in the case of rescue process for South African Airways (SAA) was a “trivial” issue that would waste the court’s time
· DA earlier announced that it had filed an urgent interdict application in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to prevent any money for SAA coming from “emergency” funding, by means of a provision in the Public Finance Management Act
· The Department of Public Enterprises and Treasury had written a letter of commitment to “mobilise” funding for the rescue plan; however, the letter did not specify the source of the funding required.
South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said that the opposition party- Democratic Alliance (DA’s) – effort to approach the court in the case of rescue process for South African Airways (SAA) was a “trivial” issue that would waste the court’s time.
DA earlier announced that it had filed an urgent interdict application in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to prevent any money for SAA coming from “emergency” funding, by means of a provision in the Public Finance Management Act.
Mboweni in a tweet said that Courts are very important, powerful, respected and central institutions with decorum over the ages. They have developed doctrines such as, ‘Do not waste the court’s time with trivial/small issues’, alluding that the interdict application filed by DA might fall under of insignificant importance.. He challenged that DA would have to provide evidence for their allegation of bailout of the SAA, a trigger for them to approach the court. He denied that the bailout was happening and it only existed in the minds of people challenging it in the court.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader Hill-Lewis asked Mboweni to categorically state that no public money would be used for the rescue process. According to the rescue plan, it requires about R10.3 billion in funding. The Department of Public Enterprises and Treasury had written a letter of commitment to “mobilise” funding plan. However, the letter did not specify the source of the funding required.
The required amount for rescue is apart from government-guaranteed loans from four private banks aggregating to R16.4 billion. These allocations were done in the previous budgets and said to have not been challenged in the court. . During the last 10 years or so, the government has pumped about R30 billion. for the bailout of the airline.
