Madam Deputy Speaker, SA Airways Technical, Saat, the aircraft maintenance organisation, is suffering from a crippling shortage of technicians. At the end of March there were about 240 vacant posts while 300 technicians have resigned over the last three years. Given this shortage, SAA Technical has had to outsource its maintenance obligations to other institutions.
It is further alleged that because of the organisation's desperation to fill vacant posts, new technicians have been appointed who are not properly qualified to do the work. This is putting strain on more experienced, but significantly overstretched, staff and raises real safety concerns that must be addressed.
Therefore the DA is calling for an independent commission of inquiry to establish why SAA has seemingly moved backwards over the past decade and is further calling on the state, in the light of these problems, to consider privatising the national carrier.