The possibility that the public service's pension fund may be used to save the SAA from bankruptcy by involving the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) as a business partner is totally unacceptable and must be stopped at all costs, says adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson on transport.
Adv. Alberts says it is exactly the same situation as where Transnet's pension funds were stripped to save the entity which caused thousands of Transnet pensioners to fall into dire poverty and misery.
Mr. Dondo Mogajane, Acting Director General of the National Treasury, yesterday mentioned the possibility at the parliamentary portfolio committee on finance. This follows after the statement of Mr Malusi Gigaba's last week that a SAA partner does not necessarily have to come from the private sector.
"The government wants to do exactly the same as what happened with Transnet. These statements are extremely dangerous. It would open the door to looting on a large scale.
"The government mismanaged a huge asset like SAA into a state of bankruptcy, and now wants to use its own employees’ money to throw into this seemingly bottomless pit, which previously had to be rescued a number of times without success.
"The FF Plus believes this idea is reckless and illegal and has already spoken to the lawyers who are willing to act independently to prevent these plans from being executed.
"The government cannot be allowed to plunder this fund. The consequences will be tragic. An external private partner will have to be found to invest in SAA to get the company back on track," Adv. Alberts said.
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