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SA Express has been unable to satisfy the Auditor-General that it can continue operating as a going concern, while the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) says the airline is collapsing.
“South African Express is collapsing and we are trying to rescue it,” Scopa Chairperson Themba Godi, said in a statement after he met with the airline’s management and staff recently.
Its inability to satisfy the Auditor-General that it can continue as a going concern was the reason given by Public Enterprises Minister, Lynne Brown, for the failure of the airline to table its annual financial statements for the 2016/17 financial year before the end-September deadline.
The Minister wrote to Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, explaining that the annual report and annual financial statements would be tabled as soon as the going concern status of the airline had been resolved and the audit had been concluded.
SA Express is losing an estimated US$400 000 (R5,36m) monthly in lease rates for grounded aircraft that are not in use, because there is no money to pay suppliers for parts to service the aircraft, and is having to pay to charter aircraft.
Scopa identified a number of challenges during the oversight visit, according to Themba. “The culture of non-compliance with the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury Regulations was a very big concern,” he says.
“As Scopa, we are going to work closely and babysit this entity until everything is corrected as we believe that, to remedy the current undesirable situation, we need collective efforts from everyone involved in order for South Africans to be able to see SA Express as a national asset as opposed to its being a national liability,” Godi told Tourism Update.
Sоurсе: tourismupdate.co.za