Privatise SAA says DA

DA public enterprises spokeswoman Natasha Michael said the latest turnaround strategy to be introduced by the national carrier should be its last.

"[It] represents the airline's last chance to stabilise its operations after nearly two decades of wasting public funds. If this fails, the only viable option left will be to privatise it," said Michael.

Her call for privatisation came after SAA's acting chairwoman Dudu Myeni told government officials on Tuesday (19 February) that SAA had a 20-year turnaround plan for the airline.

Myeni said the plan possibly included cutting some flight routes.

Responding to questions about why the latest plan would be more credible than previous ones, SAA's acting chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout said the latest "holistic" strategy aimed to achieve "a sustainable" business.

"We cannot continue to come back looking for further capitalisation. If nothing else, it's embarrassing," he said.

Bezuidenhout was referring to an incident where the national carrier reportedly received a R550m bank "facility" to cover fuel and other short-term commitments last month.

Michael said the 20-year plan was too lengthy and improvements should be seen in five years.

"Enough is enough. The airline's executives should not find refuge in the broad timescale of the latest addition to its plan," she said.

"It should not take 20 years to turn SAA around. While we acknowledge that miracles cannot be performed overnight, marked improvements should be visible in the medium-term."

SAA has tried nine multi-billion rand turnaround strategies in the last 13 years and still recorded losses of R14.7bn in the past decade.

Besides its financial woes, SAA has also faced a managerial blow with top officials resigning or being suspended.

Bezuidenhout, who is also the chief executiveof Mango, was appointed after the previous CEO, Vuyisile Kona, was suspended.

Kona had replaced Siza Mzimela in October last year, after the airline reported a R1.25bn operating loss.

Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge