Gigaba says aiKona

(Image: GCIS)

The decision to cut Kona from the board was made after Gigaba "considered it prudent and in the interest of SAA that there be stability and cohesion in the leadership" of the airline‚ the Department of Public Enterprises said on Monday.

The loss-making airline is in the process of drafting a turnaround strategy that must be completed by the end of this month. The turnaround plan is a prerequisite of the R5bn guarantee that was extended to the carrier in October to allow it to borrow money and continue operating as a going concern.

Kona was appointed chairman in September after much of the airline's board resigned in protest over Gigaba's communication about the delay in the publication of the airline's financial statements.

A few weeks into the job and Kona was selected by Gigaba to take up the role of executive chairman after the early exit of then SAA CEO Siza Mzimela. Kona was to occupy this unusual role until a replacement CEO could be found‚ the department said at the time.

Tension

Signs of tension between Kona and his fellow board members started to appear a few weeks after he took up the executive chairmanship. A month later SAA's board members‚ uncomfortable with Kona in his new role‚ wrote to Gigaba to raise their concerns.

The board advised Gigaba that in the interests of sound corporate governance Kona should be made an acting CEO while an acting chairman be appointed until a new permanent CEO could be found. It was important to separate executive and oversight roles‚ the board said.

The department has undertaken to appoint a new CEO before the end of this month‚ and spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said on Monday the board had short-listed five candidates.

Suspended

Last month Kona was suspended as acting CEO by the board for alleged contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act. An unnamed law firm has been appointed to investigate the allegations that have been made against Kona.

Mango CEO Nico Bezuidenhout was appointed as acting CEO until a permanent appointment is made.

Kona has said he would not resign from SAA demanding that the board produce the evidence against him. He said last month that he had considered leaving the airline at the end of December but had stayed in the interests of providing stability to the state-owned company‚ which had been rocked by successive leadership shocks over the past six months.

On Monday the department said Kona's "innocence or otherwise of the allegations against him as acting CEO had little bearing on the minister's decision to remove him".

"The decision should not be construed in any way as a pre-judgment or determination of any of the issues pending between Mr Kona and SAA‚" it said.