The South African government will only consider additional funding for South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) once the struggling national carrier has resolved its leadership problems Deputy Minister of Finance, Mcebisi Jonas, told parliament last week.

Last year, the airline asked the South African Treasury for a guarantee of at least ZAR4 billion (USD284 million) for it to finalize its 2014/15 financial statements as a going concern.

Commenting on the request during a speech outlining the Treasury's latest proposed budget, Jonas said a 'full-strength' board was currently being put together ahead of the appointment of what he termed 'competent' executives in the vacant positions of CEO and CFO, amongst others. With the leadership in place and committed to the full-on implementation of the carrier's Long-Term Turnaround Strategy, in addition to implementing cost-cuts, only then would funding be considered.

"Once all of these are implemented, government will be in a position to consider possible support that would enable SAA to table its annual financial statements for the last two years, as a going concern," he said.

Adding to a lack of decisive leadership, with three of its four most recent CEOs having been fired for misconduct, SAA has also been hampered by an increasingly difficult longhaul market dominated by the Gulf carriers as well as heavy competition in the domestic and regional sectors from local and regional LCCs.

However, despite its continued economic malaise and growing calls from the South African opposition to privatize SAA, President Jacob Zuma last week reaffirmed that his government would never dispose of the carrier.

"As soon as I came in there was some feeling and some murmurs that SAA must be sold and I said this company must never be sold. SAA, besides anything, connects this country with the world," he was quoted by the South African Broadcasting Corporation during a visit to Airways Park, the headquarters of SAA. “It promotes SA in many ways. I wouldn't understand any notion that would say this company must be reduced or its capacity must be reduced. It must be expanded, it can do a lot. It is the SAA that has proved to me that our flag is the best in the world and one of the ways to see SA is SAA, the flag flying.”

Though Pretoria may not have much political appetite for a fully-privatized SAA, Finance Minister Parvin Gordhan has acknowledged the possibility of securing a strategic investor for the carrier, albeit once it is on a more firm financial footing.

Also under consideration is a possible merger between SAA and sister carrier South African Express (Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) which too has been in the economic doldrums for some time.