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Finance Minister Tito Mboweni asked his nearly 1 million Twitter followers on Sunday night if the country needed a national airline.
JOHANNESBURG – The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said on Monday it was shameful, reckless and selfish for Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to ask the public on Twitter what the government should do with South African Airways (SAA).
Mboweni asked his nearly 1 million followers Sunday night if the country needed a national airline.
OK. What should we do in SAA?
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
OK. Do we need a national airline? Maybe that’s the question? It is?
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
Or is the airline industry market going to solve the question? In economics, they say the market will solve the problem! It will?
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
In other words, where there is a market gap, a gap in a market, an airline will emerge to fill the gap! It will !? Airlink? Or a restructured SAA?
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
I don’t know how to explain this anymore. Let me try. Economic agents: investors, companies, consumers, buyers and sellers of goods, farmers, market, etc., need political certainty. FUNDAMENTAL. I invest because I will harvest in X years in the forward market. TRUST!!
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
If this is not heard, I give up! In my grave, here is a man who tried and failed to explain the market economy. May your soul rest in eternal peace.
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
During his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in October, the minister announced that SAA would receive the R10.5 billion needed to restructure the airline as part of the government’s efforts to help state entities.
Numsa spokeswoman Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said Mboweni’s action on Twitter was disrespectful to workers.
“Tito, as Finance Minister, has a duty to ensure that the airline is viable and funded. It’s a shame that he can indulge himself on Twitter while SAA workers haven’t been paid for eight months and counting, and it’s just reckless and selfish, ”he said.
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