South African Airways (SAA) has appointed Phumeza Nhantsi as CFO, effective May 1.
Nhantsi had acted in the position since November 2015, after it was left vacant with the departure of Wolf Meyer.
“Since the appointment of the full-strength board in September 2016, the focus has been on stabilising the business and one of the priorities was to ensure that key management vacancies are filled. This is one such key appointment for the airline to ensure that SAA’s strategic objective of transforming the business into a financially sustainable aviation group is achieved,” said SAA acting CEO Musa Zwane.
Prior to joining SAA, Nhantsi was a director at SizweNtsalubaGobodo, the fifth-largest accounting firm in Southern Africa and the largest black-owned and -managed firm. Nhantsi, a chartered accountant, has extensive experience in the financial services and aviation arena.
The national carrier still needs a new CEO. Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said in Parliament this week that the SAA board had shortlisted candidates for the position and that it would be filled in due course.
SAA has been without a permanent CEO after Monwabisi Kalawe left the airline in April 2015.
The troubled airline is also in need of a substantial capital injection, which the National Treasury has agreed to in principle. Earlier this week, outgoing National Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile said that SAA would receive a capital injection this year, but that the amount had not been determined yet.