Whilst not directly relevant to the accident, it is of an in-direct interest IMO
Given that this particular airframe was not due to be retired it maybe a simple calculation of the cost of a D check for one of the aircraft scheduled to be retired, and the additional cost incurred by scrapping the aircraft in JNB rather than scrapping it in the desert.
I thought the same in costing. However I have seen reference to a possible serviceability date of around end of February, beginning of March = it is likely to be fixed but it is a "I will believe it when I see it"