Numsa slams 'disgraceful' Mboweni for his Twitter comments on SAA
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Sunday night asked his nearly one million followers on Twitter if the country needed a national airline.
JOHANNESBURG – The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Monday said that it was disgraceful, reckless, and selfish of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to ask the public on Twitter what government should do with South African Airways (SAA).
Mboweni on Sunday night asked his nearly one million followers if the country needed a national airline.
Ok. What should we do on SAA?
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
Ok. Do we need a National Airline? Maybe thats the question? Is it?
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
Or, is the airline industry market going to solve the question!? In economics, they say that the market will clear the problem! Will it?
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
In other words, where there is a market gap, a vacuum in a market, an airline will emerge to fill the gap! Will it!? Airlink? Or a restructured SAA??
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
I do not know how to explain this anymore. Let me try. Economic agents: investors, businesses, consumers, buyers and sellers of goods, farmers, the market, etc, need policy certainty. FUNDAMENTAL. I invest because I will harvest in Xyears in the forward market. CONFIDENCE!!
Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) November 22, 2020
If this is not heard, I give up! On my grave, Here is a man who tried and failed to explain market economics. May His Soul Rest In Iternal 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 that was needed to restructure the airline as part of government’s efforts to help state-owned entities.
Numsa’s spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said that Mboweni’s action on Twitter was disrespectful to workers.
“Tito, as the Minister of Finance, has a duty to ensure that the airline is viable and funded. It is disgraceful that he can indulge himself on Twitter whilst workers at SAA have not been paid for eight months and counting, and it is just reckless and selfish,” she said.
