Sounds like a wind up to me. let me just reasure you, SAAPA could effectivley ground SAA with a pilot strike, and yes that would possibly be the end of SAA (I doubt it though where would all the black pilots fly, how would all the ministers and others abuse the gravy plane if SAA goes down?)
A move as suggested above would bring SAAPA to the brink of a strike, I highly doubt such a move would take place, not the way you suggest, there are rumours of a few 1 or 2 who have already got in but they had ID's so maybe something funny going on with the issue of citizenship, dont know.
Personally if it happened on a large scale and recruitment started from other coutries, I would support SAAPA in a strike, I would also start to pack my bags and head to greener pastures because I want no part of a country that treats its citizens like that