South Africa's Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has warned South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) that the government, as its sole shareholder, cannot keep bailing out the heavily indebted airline.

Addressing airline employees at its Airways Park head office in Johannesburg, Gordhan said the South African taxpayer was losing patience with SAA. The technically-bankrupt state-owned airline has survived on government bailouts for the past seven years, the latest of which, for ZAR5 billion rand (USD343 million), was announced last month.

Along with other poorly run state-owned enterprises such as power utility Eskom, SAA's poor financial state and heavy debt exposure has played a significant role in the gradual erosion of South Africa's credit ratings.

Gordhan has since placed the blame on bad decisions that were made by previous boards and management, including allowing corruption to incapacitate the airline.

“SAA is a good business but a poorly managed airline," he said. “If you want this airline to survive, root out corruption. We must start to get the business and the basics of the business right. Get your flights on-time... if each of us played our part to make the airline look better, work better, give people a better experience we can get the basic operations of the airline going."

“What is SAA in two, three, five years from now - a workable model that is profitable and sustainable. If we don’t work as one team with direction, this airline will fail...”

The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has said its immediate priority following the disbursement of Treasury's ZAR5 billion rand is to stabilise SAA financially and through a rigorous process of cost-reduction and commercial re-orientation, to turn it into an airline that is financially and operationally sustainable.

"It is imperative that the executive management apply its mind with clear focus to the immediate task at hand, including addressing the airline’s cost-base, stopping all fraudulent contracts, disciplining and instituting appropriate civil and criminal actions against all persons inside and outside the business who are implicated in corruption, and preparing SAA for a strategic equity partner in the near future," it said.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni last week cast doubt on the carrier's future prospects and its longterm ability to land a willing strategic partner.

A former adviser of Goldman Sachs International, Mboweni told an investor conference in New York last week that there is no need for the state to run an airline it cannot afford.

“[It] is loss-making, it’s unlikely to sort out the situation, in my view we should close it down… It is unlikely that you are going to find any private-sector equity partner who will come join this asset,” Mboweni was quoted by Reuters.

Mboweni has since come under fire from his party, the ANC, as well as local trade unions that have accused him of speaking his personal opinion and not towing the official party line.