Photo by: Reuters
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene have held a meeting with the South African Airways (SAA) board, the public enterprises ministry said on Tuesday.
"In the first part of a two-part exchange, the ministers addressed the full board in their capacity as representatives of the shareholder – the South African government," it said in a statement.
"This was followed by a discussion between minister Brown and the non-executive members of the board on recent events."
The meeting took place in Johannesburg on Monday.
The ministry said Brown told the board it had to finalise the airlines financial statements and meet all requirements to hold its annual general meeting. The meeting needed to be held no later than end of April next year.
Brown also instructed it to table the integrated report in Parliament as soon as possible and appoint a turnaround specialists to set SAA on the path to profitability.
Brown and Nene were leading an inter-ministerial task team, which included directors general, focusing on the future of the airline.
Last month, the minister announced the appointment of an interim board on following two special general meetings, in which six resignations were adopted.
Brown said her intervention was aimed at stabilising SAA, which has been loss-making for the past few years.
The public enterprise ministry said that during the meeting on Monday Nene briefed the board on the state of the fiscus and government's view that state-owned companies, like SAA, needed to move quickly to a position in which they could operate off their balance sheets.
"The board's main task was to take the airline to a position where it was financially sustainable as soon as possible," it said.