Johannesburg - SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeni wants to set up an employee share scheme at the financially troubled airline.
Sharing a podium with President Jacob Zuma during his visit to the company’s Kempton Park offices this week, Myeni said if the airline was ever sold, workers should have a stake in it. She said if the company stayed in government hands, an employee share scheme should be set up “to benefit the people who work for the airline“.
Read: Gordhan withholds SAA bailout
Myeni made the comments against the backdrop of apparent tensions between the airline’s employees and management, with allegations of racism and lack of transformation.
Staff member and representative of the SA Cabin Crew Association, Mpho Moikangoa, told Zuma about what he said was rife racism at SAA. He said SAA executives, who were seated in the front row and metres from the podium, did not take employees seriously. “Black people are undermined,” Moikangoa said.
SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union co-ordinator Matthew Ramosie said the SAA board was fighting for transformation. “Why are they not receiving support from those who are supposed to support the board,” Ramosie said. He asked for Zuma’s intervention.
Myeni said she had asked acting chief executive Musa Zwane to set up a structure to deal with the allegations of racism.
In his response, Zuma said he had taken note of the concerns and would attend to them. He committed to give feedback on what the government would do about the matter.
On several occasions during his address, Zuma said he would take personal interest in efforts to turn around the ailing airline. “We are going to be closer. I am going to come here more often,” he said.
Oddly, there were no visible representatives from the National Treasury during Zuma’s visit at SAA. That is in contrast to the president’s visit to Eskom earlier, during which Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Bulelani Magwanishe shared a podium with Zuma and Eskom representatives – chairman Ben Ngubane and chief executive Brian Molefe.
In December 2014, SAA was transferred from the Department of Public Enterprises to the Treasury. Lately, the Treasury has adopted a hardline approach in dealing with the airline, which has come to rely increasingly on government guarantees.
Instead of pronouncing on further financial support for the airline, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan earlier this year said he and Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown had agreed to explore a possible merger of SAA and SA Express under a strengthened board, “with a view to engaging with a potential minority equity partner”.
But Zuma ruled out the sale of the airline, saying: “We have taken no decision to sell this company. The day we decide so, we will provide reasons why SAA should be sold. It has not crossed our mind.”
He said the airline would never the sold.
Zuma’s comments pour cold water on any expectations of at least partial privatisation of the airline. “We are going to work hard to support SAA so that it can take off,” he said, adding that the airline could still be turned around.
Zuma said he had decided to visit SAA and Eskom as part of his Siyahlola Presidential Monitoring Programme. “It is easy to get reports that may not reflect reality,” he said. He is also scheduled to visit the cash-strapped SA Post Office, which relies on a R4.4 billion state guarantee.
BUSINESS REPORT