This research article, which uses nothing but numbers to unpack the business lifepath of a South African State-Owned Enterprise, seeks to unpack the tragic 2020 collapse of SAA. Irrespective of the impact which coronavirus is having right now on the global airline industry, this was always on the cards for SAA. An inevitable outcome of the cynically planned Zuma led state capture events which collectively brought what was once a prosperous and thriving country, to its knees and then finished it off for good. On February 1st, 1934, South African Airways began flying after the South African Government took over the assets and liabilities of Union Airways, airline founded by the father of civil aviation in South Africa, Major Allister Miller in 1929. The airline, under the control of the South African Railways and Harbour administration, was renamed South African Airways (SAA).

The tragic 2020 Collapse of SAA: 7-month scene setter, Nov 2019 to May 2020

27 November 2019, Financial Times

South Africa’s state-owned flag carrier is on the brink of financial collapse after it paid only half of staff salaries this month and struggled to secure funds to survive. South African Airways suffered a “sudden deterioration” in its finances after a recent strike grounded flights, Pravin Gordhan, minister for state-owned companies, said on Wednesday. The government is working with the airline “to urgently formulate immediate actions that will be required to provide support to enable SAA to carry on its business”, he said. The airline, once Africa’s largest, may have to file for liquidation if it cannot secure R2bn ($135m) of working capital in the next few days, people familiar with the matter said. SAA needs a government guarantee to borrow the capital from banks but Tito Mboweni, the finance minister, has been reluctant to approve further bailouts. The airline’s fate poses a dilemma for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has pledged to turn round state companies that were looted under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

18 April 2020, Bloomberg

South African Airways plans to lay off its entire workforce after failing to persuade the government to provide more financial aid, a move that threatens to ground the 86-year-old carrier for good. The state-owned airline has offered severance deals to all 4,700 staff from the end of this month after administrators concluded that a successful turnaround is now unlikely, according to a proposal to eight labour groups seen by Bloomberg News. The basic value of compensation will be one-week pay for each year of service and will depend on the successful disposal of assets such as real estate, according to the document. No agreements have been concluded, the Department of Public Enterprises said in a statement. “There are discussions with the unions on alternatives to the current South African Airways business model, success of the business rescue process, and the best possible outcome for the airline’s employees,” it said. SAA is among several state-owned companies to have become technically insolvent without financial assistance from the South African government, following years of mismanagement and corruption scandals — particularly under the presidency of Jacob Zuma, which ended in 2018. The airline has had at least nine chief executive officers in the past decade, hampering attempts at a turnaround, while responsibility for the carrier was passed from the Department of Public Enterprises to the National Treasury and back again.

1 May 2020: Citizen Newspaper

The ministry of public enterprises on Friday said a “new and bold approach” would be required for South Africa to maintain a competitive airlift capacity after the “fog of economic uncertainty” caused by coronavirus. “The creation of a new, dynamic airline, with the correct corporate structure… will allow for the new SAA to compete in the post COVID-19 world,” said the ministry in a statement. “The new national carrier will be well positioned to take to the skies again and contribute to the South African and African economy.” No clear timeline was given for the creation of the “new restructured airline” that will involve both public and private participation. According to the ministry, it will be funded by a range of parties that will allow the state to “continue to play a key role”. Like most South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs), it has failed to make a profit for more than a decade and survives on government bailouts. “The transition to the new airline may require sacrifices,” the statement said, adding that employees “may be displaced”.

Now let’s delve into the core number of SAA

To investigate the collapse of SAA numerology wise, we need to understand what the critically important date of birth numbers are for this airline. The chart below carries all these and more.

The three most important numerology numbers are always the two life path numbers (2 and 7 for SAA) and the Birth DD number (1 for SAA). SAA’s Physical Life Path Number, abbreviated as PHY-LFP in the chart below, is the Number 2. What is so important about knowing this number for a given company or business? When the company’s life path number matches the Universal Year Number, much happens, guaranteed. So, given that we know that SAA has a number 2 life path [Life Path Calc = DD+MM+YYYY = 01.02.1934 = 1+2+1934 = 1937 = 1+9+3+7 = 20 = 2+0 = 2; therefore SAA’s life path number (365 pin code physical aspect) is written as 1937//20//2] it means that every Number 2 Universal Year will carry significance [e.g. 2018 = 2+0+1+8 = 11 = 1+1 = 2; and 2009 = 2+0+0+9 = 11 = 1+1 = 2; and 2000 = 2+0+0+0 = 2; and 1991 = 1+9+9+1 = 20 = 2+0 = 2; and 1982 and 1973 and 1964 and 1955 and 1946 and 1937].

So, what happened back in 2018 that carried lifepath significance for SAA?

In 2018 it was finally transparently reported that South African Airways, had not made a profit since 2011. The airline’s annual financial statements showed this to be is correct. 2010/11 posted R782million loss. 2011/12 posted R843million loss. 2012/13 posted R1,2billion loss. 2013/14 posted R2,6billion loss. 2014/15 posted R5,6billion loss. 2015/16 posted R1,5billion loss. 2016/17 posted R5,6billion loss. 2017/18 posted R5,7 billion loss. That is a total loss of R23,825billion in just 8 years! How is mismanagement like this allowed without someone ending up in jail? SAA was last in the green in 2010/11, when it made a profit of R782 million. According to the airline, it expected losses to continue in 2018/19 and 2019/20. The airline told parliament that it hoped to break even by 2021.

365 Pin Code Birth Date Numerology Chart for SAA

As you will learn shortly, the AEN [Annual Experience Number = the number defining the dominant theme for the business for the given year] for SAA for 2020, is the Number 1. The number 1 is always linked with new beginnings. Given this, we need to look to where the Number 1 significantly (as in the large, bold, black number!) plays itself out in the above birth of SAA. It does so in the company’s ‘personal energy’ number (when the AEN synchs with the company’s personal number, it can never get more personal for the company! See the black 1 in yellow block, top middle of chart) and it also does so in company’s ‘shadow external energy’ number (see the black 1 in the peach block, middle right of chart). Those two points are where SAA’s 2020 AEN 1 will impact most…

365 Pin Code Table of Annual Experience Numbers (AENs) for SAA from 1934 to 2020

When dealing with a Business Numerology challenge or being asked to give a futuristic view of a business to decision makers, building a table like this is of paramount importance because it allows you to view the business or company in question, in 4D. Each of the red blocks above indicate a convergence moment in a given year when the AEN, Annual Experience Number, synchs perfectly with either the company’s internal physical year number (I.P.Yr), internal emotional year number (I.E.Yr), external physical year number (E.P.Yr) or external emotional year number (E.E.Yr). And our extensive research has shown that it is important, to pay much attention to the 1-11&2 and 9-11&2 (or 9//11) numerology sequence. When these numerical convergences occur, something significant happens.

SAA’s 2020 line of business numerology code is wholly unique

Let’s take the year SAA completely collapsed, 2020. As per the above table, 2020 is coded as a Number 1 AEN, which impacts SAA as a company, “in the most personal way given its Birth DD was the 1st” and this SEN 1 impact also synchs with the company’s Shadow External Number (1, SAA’s Birth YYYY being 1934, which reduces down to an 8, hence 8 above, 1 below as per the above birth chart view). Then, if we look at the line of code for 2020, we see the RED block linking the AEN 1 with the 1 in the Internal Emotional Year column. From this we can deduce that the AEN 1 of 2020 (and remember, the number 1 always creates new beginnings) powerfully synchs in three places with the business numerology chart of SAA. No random coincidence then that something massive, and very personal, as in the closure of the airline, happened to in 2020. Analysing the numbers, as per 365 Pin Code business numerology techniques, tells us that something significant was always coded, event wise.

For those of you who are detailed orientated and love to interrogate and unpack numbers and datasets, if you go all the way back to 1934 when SAA was founded, and study the red blocks and lines of code, year by year, you will discover that nowhere between 1934 and 2019, is the 2020 numerology number sequence repeated. Further evidence that that 2020 always heralded a most unique event for this airline.

As in the tragic collapse of SAA. Its detail like this, which when properly unpacked, allows the owners and strategic decision makers of a company to understand what “type of risk” is coming and when. Once they know this, they can then review their current business operating model against this intelligence and make the necessary changes to mitigate the forthcoming risk. Or not, in the case of SAA and other South African SOEs as these were nothing more than convenient enrichment channels through much cynical personal profiteering could take place.

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