Stats about ‘overstaffing’ at SAA disputed on Twitter

Disputed statistics about the mismanagement and overstaffing of SAA have been doing the rounds amid widespread criticism of the parastatal.

It is currently undergoing yet another attempt to turn it around.

Entrepreneur and retired jurist Johan van Zyl did some maths over the weekend that initially apparently revealed the startling conclusion that SAA was possibly the least efficient state airline on earth, especially compared with other airlines such as Qantas and British airways.

Take a look at his calculations below:

https://twitter.com/JGvanZyl_ZA/status/989765808246083585

However, economist Mike Schussler said SAA only has about 10 500 employees, which would put it more in line with its competitors, at 181 employees per aircraft, if the stat about it only having 58 aeroplanes is true.

Sorry fake news. They have many employees but not 55000. More like 10500

— mike schussler (@mikeschussler) April 27, 2018

Columnist William Saunderson-Meyer on Saturday wrote that South Africa is experiencing a staffing and competency crisis.

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He analysed Eskom’s R350 billion in government-guaranteed debt and the fact that World Bank comparisons suggest that Eskom is overstaffed by 66%, with an “average salary of more than R700 000 a year”.

“Productivity is terrible, with the equivalent utility in India producing about 40 times as much electricity per employee as Eskom does.”

He added that SAA’s release of its 2016/17 accounts, a year late, coincided with “its executives turning up yet again to plead for another cash injection”.

“This time it’s R5 billion, which comes on top of R20 billion in bailouts last year, and the likelihood of Treasury having to intervene again to help pay the R9 billion due in 2019.”