South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) is optimistic about an amicable solution to a current impasse with Zimbabwe after the neighbouring country threatened to attach the airline's assets over an alleged USD2.4 million in unpaid fees despite Zimbabwe withholding ZAR1 billion rand (USD57 million) worth of unremitted SAA ticket sales.

"The conduct of the Ministry of Environment in Zimbabwe is contrary to the letter and spirit of our protracted engagements, first with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and later with the Ministry of Finance, on collecting the major debt of around ZAR1 billion due to SAA," CEO John Lamola, said in a statement. "Our doors of engagement remain open. We are optimistic that an amicable solution to the current impasse will be found, and that Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Environment will desist from its threatened action against SAA’s operations in Zimbabwe," he said.

SAA said following three years of negotiations with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, it had reached an agreement with Zimbabwe’s permanent secretary of finance and economic development, George Guvamatanga, for the repayment of its funds blocked since 2016 due to the country's chronic foreign currency shortages.

Despite this, Zimbabwe's environment ministry has claimed USD2.4 million in unpaid meteorological weather service fees from SAA for the period between 2006 and 2014. SAA reported a payment of USD877,435 toward this debt in November 2023. Despite this, the ministry has taken legal action, securing a court order for USD1.6 million and a writ of execution against SAA's property in Zimbabwe.

SAA said it was contesting the Zimbabwean ministry's claim for unpaid fees, labelling it "malicious and unnecessarily disruptive," especially given that Zimbabwe owes SAA a larger sum. SAA said it proposed offsetting the debt against the blocked funds, but the ministry had rejected this and was moving forward with the writ of execution according to correspondence received on October 17.

"In March 2024, Guvamatanga had proposed that current invoices charged to SAA by the Airports Company of Zimbabwe, National Handling Services, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, amounting to USD9 million, owing to its daily operations in Zimbabwe, be offset against the blocked funds. In addition, it was committed that the balance of USD50 million would be repatriated to SAA through quarterly payments of USD1 million beginning in July 2024, while an immediate goodwill payment of USD1 million is paid immediately. None of this materialised," the statement read.

SAA management, through its board, had in the past escalated this matter to its shareholder ministry and the relevant South African government departments.

According to court documents seen by ch-aviation, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe on January 2020 ordered SAA to pay USD877,435 in outstanding meteorological weather services (Met) fees for the period January 2006 to April 30, 2014; all and further outstanding Met fees from May 1, 2014, to the date of final payment; interest on the above sums to date of final payment; and legal costs.

The dispute with SAA dates back to August 20, 2014, when Zimbabwe's Minister of Environment, Water, and Climate issued a summons for payment of Met fees. These fees were collected by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) under an agreement with the Meteorological Services Department (MSD), combining other user fees under a single invoice. While SAA and other airlines paid the specified CAAZ fees, they refused to pay the Met charges, contending they duplicated landing and route fees already paid to CAAZ. Mediation through IATA and ICAO from July 2006 to July 2010 was unsuccessful. A court a quo ruled against SAA affirming that the minister had the statutory standing to sue for debt recovery. SAA's May 2023 appeal against the findings was largely unsuccessful, with most grounds of appeal dismissed.