South Africa’s Mboweni Denies Planning SAA Bailout
South Africa’s Mboweni Denies Planning SAA Bailout
South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni denied planning to bail out bankrupt state airline, South African Airways, after the biggest opposition party sought an interdict to prevent him from doing so.
The Democratic Alliance filed papers with the North Gauteng High Court seeking to prevent Mboweni from using the Public Finance Management Act to free up money for the airline. The National Treasury said on July 16 it would mobilize funding to rescue the airline without giving additional detail. SAA’s administrators are looking for an additional 10 billion rand ($599 million) to keep the airline afloat.
“This bailout thing you talk about does not exist,” Mboweni said in a Twitter posting directed at Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s spokesman for finance. “It only exists in your mind. Where is the evidence for this allegation. I do not know about this.”
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