Following the liquidation of South African domestic airline SA Express in 2022, the liquidators are two steps away from fully winding up the company, awaiting the sale of its name and brand identity—valued at R150,000.
The South Gauteng High Court delivered a final liquidation order for SA Express in September 2022, more than two years after it was placed into provisional liquidation on 28 April 2020.
Speaking to the Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings on Tuesday (24 February 2026), appointed liquidator Aviwe Ndyamara updated parliament on the winding-up proceedings.
SA Express had been trading under insolvent circumstances for quite a number of years, and the main challenge that led to its final liquidation was the attempt to procure post-commencement financing to enable the company to trade out of its business rescue proceedings.
The most successful attempt to save the airline was a consortium of employees banding together to acquire the group’s tangible assets for around R50 million.
However, in July 2022, the Air Services Council cancelled the airline’s licences, leaving it with no tangible assets. Meanwhile, the airline’s liabilities were approaching R1 billion.
When the airline first entered provisional liquidation, the contracts of 600 workers were terminated, leaving many without pay owed to them.
Almost six years later, some of these employees are still waiting.
Ndyamara said that the liquidators had worked closely with the then-Department of Public Enterprises to preserve as much value in the company as possible, enabling it to be sold off for the benefit of its creditors.
“We have now finalised and almost concluded 90% of the administration. We launched the first and final liquidation and distribution account with the Master of the High Court (in 2025),” he said.
Assets and moveable assets have been disposed of, with some outstanding debts recovered, VAT recoveries and interest earned on invested funds.
This has left a free residue of around R3.7 million payable to creditors, which include secured creditors, preferent creditors (including employees) and other concurrent creditors.
Brand for sale
Notably, Ndyamara said about 55 employees were still owed dividends by the company, which is one of the last outstanding items to be dealt with in the liquidation.
This equates to around R4,500 per employee, totalling almost R250,000 in outstanding amounts.
The liquidators are in the process of tracking and tracing these employees, adding that these issues, along with banking verification, have caused the delays.
The other major item that is still outstanding is the sale of the airline’s brand and intellectual property, which is valued at around R150,000.
“Purely looking at the brand and intellectual property as a residual asset, the transaction is not yet finalised. We’re not quite certain when we will conclude this transaction,” Ndyamara said.
He said the employee payments and sale of the SA Express brand are the only items that need to be finalised for the liquidation to be complete.
The liquidators project that estate administration will be completed by April 2026, contingent on resolving the outstanding items within a two-month window.
If the outstanding payments to employees cannot be made because the individuals cannot be located, the funds will be transferred to the state’s Guardians Fund to allow the liquidation to proceed to finality.
