SAA is in good hands – Dudu Myeni

9th September 2016

By: News24Wire

  

Font size: - +

Embattled chairperson of South African Airways (SAA) Dudu Myeni has assured South Africans that the national carrier is in good hands, expressing confidence in the new board that was announced last week to work alongside her.

"I want to assure you that this airline is in the right hands: I have observed the new board, it's people with good skills, people who are highly competent and with experience, people who will arrive here and take time to familiarise themselves with the aviation space," Myeni told journalists and a group of concerned citizens.

Earlier the SAA chair held a closed meeting with several leaders including Black First Land First leader Andile Mngxitama, Progressive Professionals Forum president Mzwanele Jimmy Manyi and National Association of Manufacturers in Electronic Components' Adil Nchabeleng.

The group wanted to address concerns it had over the running of the state-owned enterprise, claiming media reports of goings-on at SAA were concerning.

In an open session, where journalists were not allowed to pose questions to Myeni, they discussed issues of the financial well-being of SAA, corruption and transformation.

Myeni said her board inherited a company that did not have a healthy balance sheet but added that steps were being taken to "remedy the situation".

Incompetence a 'myth'

"The turnaround strategy is that we look at why we are in financial turmoil, commissioned forensic investigation into financial losses, looked at every part of the business to understand what happened in our outstations in Brazil and in the UK," she said.

Myeni also spent a considerable amount of time defending her role as chair of the board and hit out at those who have criticised her performance.

"What I want to give you assurance of is that we found the airline in dire straits: There were people who were aviation experts who were here before us. There is also a myth that this chairperson is incompetent but I am yet to find the yard stick they are using to access my competence.

“I am incompetent because R24-billion must benefit black South Africans, I am also incompetent because I have seen the reason why the airline was losing money," she said.

Myeni compared the way the airline was being portrayed as an "alcoholic" always seeking bailouts, but that was not the truth, she said.

"All you hear is that the company needs bailouts, always knocking, going to National Treasury for bailouts. What you don't know is that bailouts are not in cash. We get a paper which is a government guarantee; we service those loans, ourselves [we] never received a cash injection from government."

Edited by News24Wire

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION