South African Airways is near bankruptcy. It has lost the support of the South African government, and the financial problems have worsened. The SAA needs more than $ 500 million to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, South African Airways will have to sell a large portion of its assets in order to pay the creditors and settle the pay packages of the redundant employees. Yes, South African Airways fires 4700 employees. That means about 85% of the SAA workforce.
The situation of South African Airways will be resolved by the end of this month. Unfortunately, COVID-19 also makes "collateral victims" among the airlines.