Payday at South African Airways comes in instalments this month. Ground staff and cabin crew are paid on 27 October, pilots on the 28th, management and specialists on the 30th and executives on the 31st, according to a note to staff from acting chief human capital officer Lourens Erasmus, reported by the Sunday Times.
It is the second month running. SAA spokesperson Mphilo Dlamini confirmed on Friday that salaries were staggered for the first time in September and again in October, and put it down to "liquidity pressures arising from geopolitical disruptions and increased fuel costs". Liquidity is simply the cash on hand to pay bills as they fall due, and the airline says that, squeeze and all, it "has continued to honour its obligations to staff".
The letter from Parliament
In the same week, Parliament's standing committee on appropriations asked for a closer look. In a letter dated 19 October and seen by the Sunday Times, committee chair Mmusi Maimane tells transport minister Barbara Creecy about a report from SAA employees raising "serious allegations about executive appointments and the accuracy of SAA's financial position". He writes that the allegations are untested and that the committee draws no conclusion from them.
He still wants answers by 30 October: on SAA's cash and its 2025/26 audit, on whether the airline expects to ask the state for more support, and on how it used the roughly R1.1 billion it got for selling one of its two slots at London's Heathrow Airport. The airline has confirmed the letter arrived and promises "a comprehensive response".
From no debt to a guarantee
The airline came out of business rescue in September 2021 with no debt and R2.5 billion in working capital, the money to run day to day, after the state had spent R38 billion settling what it owed. In August, government gave it a R1 billion guarantee for its immediate working capital needs, which SAA describes as the way it can raise money while fuel prices and global tensions bite.
The committee's other question is about the books. In February SAA announced a R155 million profit for the year to March 2025, though its accounts showed revenue from operations of R9.26 billion against operating costs of R9.58 billion, and the auditor-general issued a disclaimed opinion, meaning it could not vouch for the figures. Maimane told the Sunday Times the committee needs "to interrogate the authenticity of SAA's finances".
The report is due on Friday, three days after the first batch of this month's salaries goes out.
