SIKONATHI MANTSHANTSHA: Chickens come home to roost
Denel cannot meet the full wage bill for its employees, the SABC is begging for cash to pay salaries and SAA needs more than R13bn to meet the payroll bill for almost 11,000 workers
The radical economic transformation of the Jacob Zuma years has come full circle. The chickens have come home to roost. Welcome to the Banana Republic of SA! So now state-owned arms manufacturer Denel cannot meet the full wage bill for its 4,629 employees, while the SABC is begging for cash to pay the salaries of its 3,414 staff after July. The SABC’s creditors, meanwhile, can forget about being paid until the broadcaster can persuade the finance minister to dish out more money. It has said it wants R3bn "urgently", plus another R3.8bn later.
SAA has long been in the queue, waiting for yet another cash bailout. This time it needs more than R13bn to meet the payroll bill for almost 11,000 employees. PetroSA is also waiting for a handout of more than R4bn so it can pay the salaries of 1,340 staff. Eskom’s 46,795 employees, on the other hand, have been assured of at least R230bn of undeserved cash from the taxpayer over the next 10 years...
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