Photo by: Reuters
National Treasury was close to naming a new board for the struggling national carrier South African Airways, Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said on Wednesday.
“We are finalising the process of appointing a full-strength board,” Jonas said in the debate on the ministry’s budget vote.
He said the new board would be asked to move with speed to appoint competent executives in vacant positions, including a new chief financial officer, and to ensure the implementation of a turnaround strategy for the airline.
“Once all of these are implemented, government will be in a position to consider possible support that would enable SAA to table its annual financial statements for the last two years, as a going concern.”
He added: “We expect more from the company and its leadership in this area.”
SAA’s current chairwoman Dudu Myeni lost a bruising, public battle with the finance ministry last year when she was stopped from renegotiating a contract with European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and it is widely expected that she will be replaced when the new board is named.
The airline’s losses reached nearly R5 billion in the last financial year.