He has, however now proved this when he announced this week that he has full confidence in the bungling SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni and the airline’s board of directors. The airline has been bleeding money under her leadership and controversial decisions.
Gigaba was briefing the media shortly after delivering his first treasury budget vote in parliament on Tuesday when he described Myeni and her board as “quality leadership”.
His attitude towards Myeni‚ who is said to enjoy the support of President Jacob Zuma‚ is in contrast with that of his predecessor Pravin Gordhan who took a hard-line against the SAA board chair.
BusinessLive quotes the minister as saying: “It’s quite clear that for the airline to turn around we need to have the department being more hands on because the solutions to the airline don’t only come from recapitalisation or even any of the solutions proposed… They come first and foremost on the quality leadership that we have at the company in the form of the board‚
He did, however also say he wanted to strengthen the board by filling one vacancy on the board with someone with “aviation expertise.”
“I want to reiterate the statement I’ve been making. I think that SAA can be fixed. My own belief is that if we strengthen governance instruments at SAA‚ ensure there is stability at the board‚ ensure that there is a CEO‚ ensure that the CFO functions and performs as well as we expect her to and that the board pays attention to the implementation of the long term turnaround strategy as has been reviewed‚ I think that we can be able to turn the airline around and bring it back to financial health‚” said Gigaba.
He said the National Treasury was still considering its options regarding the recapitalisation of SAA‚ which could include a possible partnership with a private equity partner.
Government was also mulling over the idea of merging all its aviation assets into one airline.
It owns various companies in the aviation industry that operate as separate entities‚ including SAA‚ low-cost airline Mango and regional carrier SA Express.
“What is the recapitalisation package that will be provided? I can’t say at this point. Government is going to look at what is the package of recapitalisation that we will provide to the airline. One will make a statement at the medium term budget policy statement as to how we suggest we move forward‚” said Gigaba.
