Nhlanhla Nene on the arithmetic of transformation
'We have to dig ourselves out of economic hole together'
Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene says Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba had no choice but to bail out SAA, even if he had to use a state emergency fund intended for natural disasters. Nene says that without the R2.2-billion bail-out the national carrier would have defaulted, with ruinously expensive consequences. But without "a clear plan for the future" and its immediate implementation by an "independent board and strong, credible leadership", the airline's nosedive, and expensive bail-outs by the state, will continue. "With the right leadership and right plan in place it can still be turned around," says Nene. Nene was fired as finance minister in December 2015 after forcing SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeni, a close friend of President Jacob Zuma, to reverse a shady transaction she had pushed through with the help of a pliant board. In the wake of the latest bail-out there have been renewed calls for SAA to be privatised, but Nene doesn't agree. He says that apart from anything else, S...
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