Cape Town - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has laid down the law to the new SAA board and chairwoman Dudu Myeni, saying non-executive members of the board may not interfere in the operations of the airline.
Earlier, President Jacob Zuma expressed his full confidence in the controversial Myeni.
Their relationship came in for ridicule when a debate on the SAA crisis followed questions to the president in Parliament yesterday, with EFF leader Julius Malema dubbing the reinstated board chairwoman “Dudu Myeni-Zuma”.
The Presidency has previously denied rumours that the two are romantically involved and share a love child, saying their relationship is purely professional and based on her running of a foundation in the president’s name.
That statement was in response to the widespread view that former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene was fired by the president for crossing Myeni.
Myeni was recently re-appointed as chair of the SAA board despite the Treasury under Gordhan having recommended a list of directors that did not include her.
In reply to a question from DA leader Mmusi Maimane on whether he had confidence in Myeni despite the Treasury’s reservations, Zuma said, “Yes, I do”, adding he had “seen her working”.
He denied that the airline’s financial woes - it has just been granted a further R4.7 billion government loan guarantee to stave off insolvency - could be attributed to Myeni. The airline had been in trouble for a long time, Zuma said, suggesting that none of its former board chairs had been able to run it successfully.
“I don’t see any difference between what she’s done and what other chairs have done before,” Zuma said. This was disputed by Malema, however, who reminded Parliament that under former chair Cheryl Carolus the airline had been profitable.
Zuma also denied that he had been responsible for Myeni’s re-appointment, saying he had been out of the country when the cabinet took the decision.
Closing the debate on SAA which followed Zuma’s question time, Gordhan said that among the conditions attached to the loan guarantee was the introduction of good corporate governance practices.
This included non-executive directors not interfering in day-to-day operations.
Gordhan said he would leave it to MPs to interpret whether this had happened in the past, though he mentioned that when the Treasury intervened, it had discovered letters being written on behalf of the airline, which was not the job of board members.
Myeni’s clash with Nene was reportedly over her wish to change a deal for the acquisition of new aircraft, while she also tried to award a deal to restructure SAA’s debt to a little-known financier for a R256 million success fee.
Gordhan said he expected the new board to hire a competent management team and ensure compliance with the law and the constitution. He confirmed that SAA had made a loss of R4.7bn in 2014/15 and R1.6bn in 2015/16, while its total loan guarantees now stood at just under R20bn.
CAPE ARGUS