There is a surprising amount of justification and apologetica here for the actions against the white pilots of SAA.
For those who have no idea about what is going on in South Africa, and has been for quite some time now, white people are being pushed out of the salaried workforce in every industry and field. This is not only in public organizations but in large corporations as well. Young whites in South Africa today have a choice of either starting their own business or emigrating that's it.
What has happened to the white pilots of SAA has nothing to do with how (airline) companies manage bankruptcies. It has everything to do with racism.
A lot of people are uncomfortable with facing that fact, but there it is.
SAA used to be one of the leading airlines in the world. It was right up there with the great legacy carriers, in their heyday. Not only during the years of the apartheid regime, but also after Mandela had taken power.
It has systematically been run into the ground. Plundered for its gold and left an empty husk by those appointed by the government to run it.
It's quite a tale in itself - if you're interested, google it.
Handing thriving free-market economies to Marxist guerrilla organizations never has really worked out too well, despite the romance that a lot of people seem to see in it. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a well-documented pattern of how that has worked since the early 1960's.
One's heart can only go out to those pilots in their 50's and 60's who are now destitute and must requalify, find work in another country, at the bottom of any seniority list if they are fortunate enough to find work, and leave everything behind in the country they grew up in.