SAA’s board hit by mass resignation

FOUR non-executive members of the SAA board had resigned, the Department of Public Enterprises said on Friday. Natasha Michael, a DA spokeswoman on public enterprises, said yesterday that another board member had resigned on Saturday. In a statement, the department said Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown on Wednesday notified members of the SAA board of a special general meeting to be held on Thursday. Among the items on the agenda was the removal of non-executive members of the board. It said she was acting in her formal capacity as the designated representative of the sole shareholder of the airline, the government. Subsequently, four non-executive directors submitted their formal resignations to Brown by Friday. “It is a pity that some board members have chosen this path. The meeting is intended to give them the opportunity to respond on the record,” Brown said. “I am limiting my comments on the matter of board membership to that at the moment in the interest of fairness to those who do choose to attend the meeting.” She said in general that she and the minister of finance were leading an inter-ministerial task team, which included directors-general, focusing on the future of the airline. “SAA has been making losses over a number of years and any intervention arising from our work will be aimed at getting the company to live off its balance sheet as soon as possible.” Colin Cruywagen, Brown’s spokesman, said he was no aware of other resignations. The last time there were mass resignations from the board of was in September 2012. – Wiseman Khuzwayo