Cabinet approves SAA board appointments

Cabinet also approved the retention of Duduzile Myeni (chairperson) and Yakhe Kwinana. SAA CEO Monwabisi Kalawe and CFO Wolf Meyer will continue serving on the board.

The appointments were followed by two special general meetings of the SAA Board on Thursday, 23 October.

At the meeting, the resignations of six board members were considered and adopted.

This was followed by another special meeting, where Tambi and Dixon were formally appointed as members.

The Department of Public Enterprises thanked the outgoing board members for their time and effort spent in trying to address the challenges facing SAA.

New board members

Dixon is a chartered accountant. He obtained a CTA qualification from the University of Natal in 1974 and has 29 years' experience in accounting and auditing at Coopers Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).

His extensive experience in corporate affairs, auditing and accounting is expected to assist the board to achieve the turnaround strategy, while also addressing the challenges of poor corporate governance at the airline.

Tambi obtained a PhD and MSc from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in 1990 and 1985 respectively, a MBA from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1983, a BSc from Indiana State University in 1981 and a CPL/IR from Oxford Air Training School in 1976.

His extensive experience in project management, planning, engineering with specialisation in the transport sector is expected to assist the board to achieve the desired outcomes of the turnaround strategy and the consolidation of the airline's assets.

Focus on turnaround strategy

At a media briefing on Thursday, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown said the focus of the new board should be on SAA's turnaround strategy and the core business of the airline.

"I would like for them to ... look at where to build on inefficiencies and what can be cut.

"I want them to look at what it will take to get the airline to be able to live off its balance sheet. Eventually, we should come out of this process with a financial model on how to fund the airline going forward," Brown said.

Brown and Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene are leading an inter-ministerial task team, which includes directors-general, to oversee the future of the airline.