Parliament looks into legality of bailout to SAA

Parliament’s standing committee on finance on Tuesday asked for advice on the legality of National Treasury’s R3 billion bailout to South African Airways (SAA) after the opposition submitted a letter claiming it was in breach of public finance rules. Alf Lees, the deputy finance spokesman for the Democratic Alliance, wrote that it was patently clear to Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba as early as August 24, that the loss-making airline would need R1.8 billion by the end of September to repay its loan to Citibank. Therefore, he had ample time to approach Parliament with a special appropriation bill but opted not to do so.