SAA under veil of secrecy as internal chaos rules
19 October 2014
The DA notes the resignation, on Friday 17 October 2014, of 4 non-executive members of the South African Airways (SAA) board with an additional board member resigning the following day.
The resignations were as a result of seven members opposed to Dudu Myeni's leadership receiving notice of a board meeting scheduled for Thursday 24 October. At this meeting, they would have to make representations on their continued service to the Board, to the Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown before she decided on their fate.
The DA therefore calls on the Minister to present a full and proper briefing on the exact nature and purpose of the Thursday meeting together with a breakdown of the profit making and loss making routes that the airline flies. The DA will be writing to the portfolio committee chairperson on Public Enterprises to summon the Minister and compel her to present the briefing.
The appointment of Zuma acolytes to important positions should be viewed with suspicion and the DA has previously stated unease with Myeni's position as SAA chairwoman as she is also the chairwoman of the Jacob Zuma foundation.
SAA is a company in dire financial circumstances and therefore needs a full-time chairperson who will not be distracted by other duties, and other political masters. SAA requires a chairperson who will be able to take tough commercial decisions, in the best interests of the airline, without any political influence and the DA submits that Myeni is not that person.
SAA is currently making losses of R 300 million a year on commercially unsustainable routings such as the one to Beijing. After the ill-advised sale of SAA's parking bay at London Heathrow, a route that was profit making is now also causing SAA to sustain a loss.
The South African government is the sole shareholder of SAA, duly represented by the Minister who in turn is accountable to Parliament. Parliament therefore must be apprised of all of SAA's operational information.
It is high-time that SAA be run like the sizeable and demanding business that it is and not as the playtime enterprise of the ANC government. It is only then that the chaos that is running rampant will be curtailed, until then such shenanigans like the mass exodus of board members and the sale of lucrative parking bays will continue unchecked.
Statement issued by Natasha Michael MP, DA Shadow Minister Public Enterprises, October 19 2014
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