South African Airways CEO can’t say if the airline is losing or making money

Acting Group CEO of South African Airways (SAA), Matshela Seshibe, cannot confidently say whether the airline is making or losing money.

In a recent interview with The Money Show’s Stephen Grootes, Seshibe was asked about SAA’s repeated poor audit outcomes and the uncertainty over its financial situation, to which the CEO could not provide a direct answer.

This comes after SAA’s latest financial statements were heavily criticised by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA).

AGSA’s Consolidated General Report on National and Provincial Government Audit Outcomes for 2024/25 highlighted numerous problems at SAA.

It acknowledged that the SAA board and management have been working to restore the airline since it emerged from business rescue and restarted flights in 2021.

“The board and management have made progress in stabilising operations as well as in implementing a route expansion plan,” said the AGSA.

However, SAA received a ‘disclaimed with findings’ audit opinion for the past seven years, including the latest 2024/2025 financial year.

SAA also reported a R1.96-billion deficit for the 2024/25 financial year.

In the 2024/25 report, the AGSA made 11 material compliance findings relating to the submission of SAA’s financial statements, performance report, and annual report.

It also highlighted problems with the airline’s asset management, consequence management, financial statement quality, procurement management, and revenue management.

Additionally it, found issues with SOE oversight and governance, strategic planning and performance management, and the prevention of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

“These findings mean that the board of SAA does not have reliable data for measuring the entity’s performance. Ultimately, this slows down progress in rebuilding and growing the entity,” the AGSA said.

“The entity’s persistent failure to produce credible financial statements undermines measures that may have been implemented by the board in rebuilding the entity.”

“This poses a risk of the board relying on inaccurate financial and performance information when considering strategic matters.”

SAA Group CEO John Lamola resigned on 10 April 2026, four years after he took the position.

The CEO of SAA subsidiary, Matshela Seshibe, was then appointed at the end of April.

Is SAA breaking even or not?

In the interview with the Money Show, Grootes asked CEO Seshibe, “How would you describe the financial situation of SAA at the moment?”

Seshibe responded by saying that SAA accepts the report “without reservation, with humility.”

“It brought to us a lot of lessons about the state of our accounting and financial recording, and we have started processes to rectify those.”

He note that the airline came out of business rescue in 2021, “and experienced very good growth in terms of recapturing market share and growth in the top line.”

Seshibe also said that the number of employees at SAA had increased from 500 to around 1,500.

“Unfortunately, the maturity of the growth in the operations as well as the revenue was not matched at the same pace by the financial and the record keeping as well as the controls, as highlighted by the Auditor-General,” he said.

The CEO said that the company has set up new internal mechanisms to improve controls, including audit steering and loss control committees.

“We have put governance at the centre of our strategy to ensure that not only are we growing, but we are doing so in a compliant manner.”

When asked directly whether SAA is breaking even or losing money, Seshibe was unable to provide a direct answer.

He responded by saying the question people should be asking is “around a key metric that is relevant to the times”, referring to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The CEO said the war has “reconfigured” the airline industry, as jet fuel prices have increased by up to 140%, forcing airlines to recover some of those costs through fare increases.

“SAA is not spared. We are playing that playbook ourselves to make sure that we protect our cash in this period,” he said.

“And to that degree, I’m comfortable that we’re riding through the storm. The business fundamentals are strong and solid, and in that sense, in the long run, you’re going to see a sustainably profitable airline.”

Grootes asked for clarity on whether SAA is making or losing money. Again, Seshibe did not provide a direct answer.

“For the moment, we are focused on generating cash and preserving cash,” he said.

“And like the rest of the industry, that is a key metric that I think, on a sustainability basis, we should all focus on the events happening in the Middle East.”

“It’s a cushion that is required to ride the storm, and then when things go back to normal, we will be in a much stronger position.”