That letter is quite something else to read...

I work in Africa, we go to SA a lot, and never really enjoy it any more, and if those are the sentiments of some, then that explains the increased feeling of tension in the cities.

I have lived here in SA for 18 months now, and I am afraid that SA is truly obsessed with race...

I was even asked for my race on an application to join the national Model Aircraft Association!

South Africa has been divided by race since the Dutch landed in 1652 and then the Brits took over in 1806. (there was swapping back and forth). The racial segregation was mostly informal but was a daily fact. In 1948 the National party took over and moved towards formal Aprtheid which lasted until 1994 when Mandela walked.

That's 368 years so it will take some time to unpick those attitudes. You only have to consider that the USA and UK still show discrimination to people with differently coloured skins...

That's 368 years so it will take some time to unpick those attitudes. You only have to consider that the USA and UK still show discrimination to people with differently coloured skins...

Unfortunately if you combine that with vast financial inequality and a lack of respect for human life you have a perfect storm. There will be a violent reckoning in the future as the local African tribes are some of the most racist and violent on the continent.

Once race is addressed, then tribal affiliation comes in. Then this cycle begins again. It’s like a feeding frenzy. Once the fish is eaten, they circle some more until something else appears in the water.

C'est l'Afrique n'est-ce pas?

Back to SAA, it appears that the government has decided that it is no longer an issue that it wants to be involved with. Let's see what happens when the salaries are not paid at the end of the month and what happens when there is no money for fuel. Rather than formally closing the airline, it appears that it will just stop functioning.

The problem is that the government's broke and doesn't have the money to bail the airline out even if it wants to. After 25 years of looting and pillaging, the coffers of every state enterprise in SA are empty. Even before COVID-19, the country was on the edge of financial collapse and struggling to keep the electricity on. Maintaining an airline will be way down the list of priorities during the coming anarchy, which is already starting with shops being looted and trucks hijacked.

The ANC top brass will have to rely on charter aircraft when the time comes to flee to their mansions in Dubai.

ex Africa semper aliquid novi
Pliny the elder

Right on, after a three year sentence (including remission for bad behaviour) in Liberia::

"WAWA"

West Africa Wins Again!

I'm so glad that this is still alive. Back in the day, it was Africa Wins Again and then Blood Diamonds came along and misled most people with TIA.

But, Africa usually does.

AWA

I recall another way of explaining a situation to an outsider: TAB = That's Africa Babe!

Seriously different people and different ways of doing things. Not right or wrong just different. In Europe and the USA and other Western countries, we have our own kind of corruption and mutal back-scratching ...

I'm loving the fact that a lot of the comments calling out the racist letter (rightly) have their own racist connotations.

If you think that black people are the better off demographic in SA I think you are being naive...

TWO POINTS:

1. The irony here is that the non white pilots at SAA who are here pleading to keep their jobs are actually the individuals who will MOST EASILY get new jobs once SAA fails. Because the government sets race transformation employment targets for all companies the other airlines in the country are desperate for non white pilots to meet their targets and will hire them quickly.

2. The ridiculous argument they make about transformation in aviation coming to a halt if SAA dont keep them in a job is also false. SAA stopped its Cadet scheme years ago and thus isn't doing any more 'transformation' . Ironically some of the other privately (dare I say white ?) owned airlines like Comair are now the ones running cadet/bursary schemes for non white pilots.

You cant make this nonsense up and the authors of that letter should be absolutely ashamed of themselves - after they have been handed their entire careers on a platter by the taxpayer - they want more...?

Of course they want more. The 'entitlement' attitude is mightily prevalent and it isn't likely to diminish just because SAA collapses.

The first name on that letter, Mawethu Majola, is the idiot who failed a breathalyzer test 2 years ago before departure from LHR to JNB. The white captain reported him and guess what happened afterwards? Nothing happened to Majola and SAA blamed the captain for the flight cancellation and costs!!! Very sorry for all the hard working people at SAA if they actually do close down, but good riddance to everyone whose names are on that letter.

Might be useful to look at the definition of apartheid: - a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race

Haven't we seen this all before, but the other way round.

Doesn't anyone, including the signatories of the above letter, learn the lessons of the past. :mad:

they’re not. That’s the irony. Only ANC officials are. You missed the forest, looking at trees Chyna.

Rashid Bacon No! That is why we have had a steady stream of financial recessions over the decades, various 'bubbles' of tulips and property etc. Each generation thinks it knows better than the one before. I have often summed it up by saying: Young men do not listen to their fathers, leave alone their grandfathers.

Strangely, SAA is still flying but not on regular routes. Right now there's SAA 4586 operated by an A340-600 on a direct flight from Johannesburg to Clark in the Philippines. This is presumably freight as Clark has been closed to passengers for the past month and the various evacuation flights have all operated through Manila. Having said that, I cannot imagine what freight could possibly be deemed vital between these two countries. Maybe experienced nurses? But obviously, they would not be freight.

Indeed, has there ever been a direct flight between South Africa and Philippines? I suspect not.

And, whilst I am looking, I see there's another SAA A340 in Havana of all places. That has to be a medical aid trip.