The South African Airways Pilots Association (Saapa) has expressed concern about reports that outgoing South African Airways (SAA) CEO Vuyani Jarana’s turnaround plan had been “sabotaged internally and externally”.

“In the end, the CEO was hobbled by inflexible and restrictive government policy, as well as the board and shareholder taking active roles in executive decision-making. This was exacerbated by the SAA executive structure and an executive management team that had remained mostly unchanged since the Dudu Myeni era,” Saapa chairperson Grant Back noted in a statement on Monday.

Jarana announced his resignation at the weekend, citing a lack of funding and support to implement the turnaround plan.

While Saapa lamented Jarana’s resignation as a “blow” to the airline, it indicated that this presented an opportunity for the shareholders to learn from these mistakes.

It called for the new CEO, when appointed, to have an unrivalled understanding of the industry, and emphasised that the board should move forward with the appointment of a nonpolitical, independent CEO with a strong record in the aviation sector.

Moreover, it highlighted the need for the incoming CEO to have the support of the executive team.

Saapa is seeking a meeting with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to offer its inputs into the way forward.

This view was reiterated by Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) which said Jarana’s resignation was “a symptom of an unfixable mess that will require a completely new approach to address this expensive and inefficient State-owned entity.”

“We simply can’t afford to keep SAA as a wholly government-owned entity,” commented, Outa National Division executive director Heinrich Volmink.

“Just as we did with Telkom, the time has arrived to allow an external partner with experience in efficient airline management to take a stake in the airline, if it is going to survive.”

Highlighting the complexity and competitiveness of the industry, Outa indicated that the new SAA leadership would need to act efficiently, independently and in the interest of the airline.

“Outa is not surprised by Mr Jarana’s resignation given the obstacles he faced in carrying out his duties. A successful turnaround at SAA will require all hands-on deck. This includes bringing labour unions on board, as the solutions will require a balance between job protection and cost reduction.

“We trust that government will now use this opportunity to make some hard decisions about the future of the airline.”