We welcome the decision that parts of the South African Airways (SAA) could be sold to private companies.

This was one of the resolutions of the governing party's national executive committee (NEC) meeting at the weekend.

The ANC meeting had first considered selling the entire company, but it was agreed that the likelihood was minimal because of SAA's poor financial state.

"The person you are going to sell SAA to, you will have to give them money, not them giving you money, which is a loss," said the party's economic head Enoch Godongwana.

"It has been mismanaged; I doubt if it owns its fleet, it's probably a leased fleet. So, there's no asset, I doubt if it even has that, I mean I can't vouch for it," he said.

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said the NEC emphasised the need for investment in the country's infrastructure, including SOEs.

"In this regard, public-private partnerships, especially in aviation and energy and other areas, will be critical," he said.

This is a good decision by the ANC, the airline has not made profit in years. SAA is not self- sufficient as it had been granted several financial bailouts by government to keep it running.

Just last month, National Treasury approved a R5.5bn bail-out for SAA for the 2019/2020 financial year. In order for the national carrier to be financially sustainable, it needs about R22bn.

Well done ANC for deciding to save the public money being wasted on SAA.