South African Airways staff did not get paid on their normal payday for the second month running, and the airline’s explanation leans heavily on fuel prices and geopolitics. Those pressures are real. But taxpayers already stood behind SAA with a R1bn guarantee in August, and the airline still cannot meet payroll on time. That is the part that needs answering.
What happened
According to a staff memo reported by TimesLIVE, acting chief human capital officer Lourens Erasmus told employees that October salaries would be paid in stages: ground staff and cabin crew on 27 October, pilots on 28 October, management and specialists on 30 October and executives on 31 October. A trade union source told Moneyweb that the normal payday is the 25th.
It is not a first. SAA itself says it staggered salaries “for the first time in September and now in October”. A TimesLIVE source said September pay only landed around 2 October, that some suppliers now want to be paid upfront, and that “SAA is running out of money, and may soon be grounded”. That is an anonymous claim and SAA has not said anything like it. But the airline’s own statement confirms the cash squeeze.
SAA spokesperson Mphilo Dlamini blamed “significant liquidity pressures arising from geopolitical disruptions and increased fuel costs”, and said management had “fully engaged employees” and was making “difficult but necessary decisions to safeguard the business”.
The guarantee and the leadership gap
The National Treasury’s medium-term budget policy statement, tabled on 21 October, says SAA’s fiscal exposure grew in 2026 because of the global jet fuel price shock. Government gave a R1bn guarantee in August to cover immediate working capital, and SAA holds a further R223m in guarantees linked to unflown tickets and letters of credit, TimesLIVE reported. Treasury warned that the remaining risk depends on SAA absorbing these pressures “without requesting further direct state support”.
Two months after that guarantee, pay is late again. Either the R1bn was never meant to cover payroll, or the hole is bigger than the public has been told. Both possibilities deserve a clear answer.
The airline is also running without permanent leadership. Moneyweb reports that SAA has had no permanent CEO for months, that Matshela Seshibe was appointed acting CEO and then suspended weeks into the post, and that the CEO, chief financial officer, airline operations officer and human capital officer are all acting. An airline in a cash crisis is being steered by people who do not know whether they will still be in the job next quarter.
Parliament has set a date
Parliament’s standing committee on appropriations has stepped in. Business Day reports that committee chair Mmusi Maimane wrote to transport minister Barbara Creecy on 19 October, citing a report from SAA employees with “serious allegations about executive appointments and the accuracy of SAA’s financial position”. Maimane stressed the allegations are untested, but asked for an urgent update on SAA’s financial and cash position, including the 2025/26 audit, by 30 October.
That deadline is now four days away, and it is the one to watch.
The accountability angle
Credit where it is due: SAA put ground staff and cabin crew at the front of the queue and executives at the back. That is the right order. But paying the lowest earners two days late is still paying them late, and the 3,422 people Moneyweb counts on the payroll have debit orders that do not wait for liquidity.
The questions for Creecy’s report are simple:
- What did the R1bn August guarantee pay for, and how much of it is left?
- Is SAA’s reported financial position accurate, and where is the 2025/26 audit?
- When will the airline have a permanent CEO and CFO?
- Will SAA need more direct state support, which Treasury has warned against?
South Africans have funded this airline through more than one rescue. They are entitled to know whether this is a short fuel-price storm or the start of another bailout cycle. The 30 October report should say which.