Logistics and transport company, Ziegler ZA, will take SA Express to court on Tuesday, January 28, relating to an urgent application it filed to have the airline placed under business rescue or to be liquidated.
Ziegler ZA is seeking R11.3m (€712 325) from the airline for unpaid services.
According to Ziegler ZA the company was responsible for local and international movement of aircraft and engine parts for maintenance on behalf of SA Express between February 2017 and February 2019.
In a statement following the court application, SAX advised that it had terminated its contract with Ziegler in January following a number of red flags identified by the team tasked with fixing SAX. The airline said it was reviewing all its agreements and had identified the Ziegler ZA contract as irregular and misaligned to the Public Finance Management Act.
The airline claims that Ziegler ZA’s application to place it under business rescue is driven solely by self-serving motives, which would allow Ziegler to claim funds against its own credit insurance to the disadvantage of other creditors who may not have the same benefits.
Suppliers with dubious contracts constantly bulldozed to ensure they got their way before the conclusion of irregular contract investigations, said SAX.
Ziegler ZA responded that SA Express had never raised concerns regarding the quality of its service and had confirmed, in a letter in August, that it had no legal disputes regarding invoices and that payment delays were merely due to a process of reconciliation.
See this week’s TNW for more information.
