Recapitalisation of South African Airways (SAA) was an option but it would be funded off the balance sheet of the troubled carrier and not from the state’s coffers, Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said on Wednesday.

“If we are going to recapitalise, it will be off balance sheet, it will not be done in such a way that it increases the government deficit,” Jonas told Parliament’s standing committee on finance.

He confirmed that there were “serious” discussions with National Treasury on how to stabilise the loss-making airline and mooted the prospect of setting up a special financing committee for SAA to help revise its long-term turnaround strategy.

The committee would also look into rationalisation and weigh whether to find a private equity partner for SAA or opt for recapitalisation, and if so “what form it will take and where it will come from”.

Pressed by MPs for timelines, the deputy minister said the new turnaround strategy should be finalised by early next year and SAA should have a new CEO at its helm by roughly February as the search for one had begun.

His remarks followed a briefing in which SAA officials said an oversupply in the domestic market as well as growing competition internationally were adding to the airline’s known woes of a weak capital base and mainly dollar-denominated costs. Moreover, the African market remained depressed due to low commodity prices.

Acting chief financial officer Phumeza Nhanthsi said the decline in passenger numbers of four percent for 2015/16 was was partly offset by savings of about R1-billion. Operating costs decreased by 12 percent, mainly because fuel, which accounts for a quarter of operating costs, was considerably cheaper.

But the airline encountered steep increases in maintenance and landing costs totalling just more than a billion rand as the local currency weakened against the dollar. It also paid R309-million more than the previous year for rented aircraft as six Airbus 320s entered its fleet.

But the balance sheet information was overshadowed by an attack by opposition MPs on controversial SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni who answered the criticism by saying the country had her to thank for negotiating the conversion of an onerous Airbus purchase contract into the above lease agreement and transforming its procurement policies.

Myeni angrily countered claims by Economic Freedom Fighters deputy leader Floyd Shivambu that she was a protegee of President Jacob Zuma, saying she did not need his backing as her CV spoke for itself and she had also never met the Gupta family who are at the centre of state capture claims.

She dared Shivambu to repeat his claims, including that she ran the company by intimidating colleagues, in court.

“I am trying to be broad-shouldered… I am an experienced director. I have never bullied anybody,” Myeni said.

Responding to repeated reports that she had confiscated cellphones at meetings, Myeni said sensitive information was leaked to the media when the new board held a two-day induction meeting in September.

“People leaked information to Business Day… they could photograph it because I did not confiscate cell phones.”