Francois Roux, News24 User
Some time ago there was some discussion around the airlines that might have to raise their tariffs to compensate for the increase in fuel costs. Some airlines also came out and indicated that they will be raising tickets accordingly, but that they will be trying to keep the increases to a minimum.
SAA stepped out and said that they will not be raising ticket costs in the near future, as they have not yet been affected by the increase in fuel costs.
The very same day on our way home, my wife and I were having a discussion about how fuel costs really was getting out of hand, and what we can do to use less and conserve. The statement by SAA came into the conversation, and one of my remarks was that I'll put a waiver out, that very soon the tax payer will have to foot the bill for the fuel costs they are not recovering with their tickets.
Lo and behold, not two days later and I read an article right here on News24, about how they want the government to bail them out with a R5.7bn loan of, no doubt, hard earned taxpayers money. One of their officials also goes ahead, and acknowledges that the escalating oil prices are in fact eating into its profits.
SAA already has other big loans which they can probably not service, and now wants government to hand over our money, so that they can pay for their debt. All this while you hear about SAA executives being paid bonuses and other incentives bigger than what 100 average families put together earn in a year, much less poor families who get paid below the minimum wages as set out by government.
Fixing debt with debt
I'm willing to place another bet, that SAA will get the loan and that they will never pay back the R5.7bn and that in another year or so they will ask for further funding either from government or private institutions (which we will never hear about of course) and that at the end of their current financial year they will pay out enormous amounts of money to people who they say did a good job.
Don't tell me about them actually asking their shareholders for the loan. Government is their only shareholder. All the money the government has comes from tax we pay, directly or indirectly. Thus they are lending SAA our money. Money that will never be paid back, never be used to fix up roads we travel on, won't be used to clean our streets and parks or be used to build houses for people living in dangerous structures.
I have always been taught that you can never fight debt with more debt; it's even being preached all over the news right now. So unless I don't quite understand what is happening here. Why should my tax money be used to fund a corrupt company who lets its employees steal people's luggage?
And yes, even if the thieves are not employed by SAA themselves, they still pay their employers, which indirectly means that they condone what is going on by not getting another service provider.
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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.