‘We won’t interfere’ – new SAA chair

THE roles of various
stakeholders at SAA have
been clearly laid out and
the airline’s new board has
vowed to stay away from the
day-to-day operations of the
airline.
Former SAA chairperson,
Dudu Myeni, was often
accused of getting over
involved in decision-making
at the airline, but new
chairperson, JB Magwaza,
says his board will leave the
running of the embattled
national carrier to its executive
committee.
Speaking at a recent media
briefing, JB said the lack of
designation of roles, functions
and relationships between
the airline, the board and
the National Treasury as the
airline’s shareholder, was
one of the major factors that
caused problems for SAA.
“The board will be quite
involved for the next month
or two as the plan for the
implementation of the
turnaround strategy is laid
out, but otherwise the job of
running the company belongs
to the ceo and his executives
– and we as the board will not
interfere,” said JB.
Finance Minister, Malusi
Gigaba, agreed and added
that newly appointed SAA ceo,
Vuyani Jarana, had been given
the power to run the airline.
There is still no clear
understanding as to how SAA
will continue to operate as a
going concern.
The Minister said the
issue of funding SAA would
be addressed in the next
few months. “[For now], the
remaining R4,8bn of the
R10bn allocated to SAA will be
paid in instalments of R1bn at
the end of every month up to
March 31, 2018. We are also
continuing with discussions
to bring a strategic equity
partner on board to provide
private-sector capital as well
as expertise for the airline to
move forward and bring it back
to sustainability.”