I just read on another board that the items in question were both hour and calendar limited, and that SAA's maintenance department was only tracking them based on hours. When an audit was done this past weekend, the mistake was found.
Not a case of the parts not being available, or mechanics not doing their jobs, but a clerical error somewhere.
Of course, the press wouldn't report something like that, rather they'd make it sound like the entire BA fleet was in danger of dropping out of the sky because of shoddy maintenance.