South African Airways (SAA) has identified Vodacom Group executive Vuyani Jarana as the leading candidate to become the state-owned carrier’s first permanent CEO since November 2015, according to three people familiar with the matter. The debt-laden airline has not made a profit since 2011 and is in talks with banks about repaying, or refinancing, R8.9bn of loans due at the end of the week. The carrier needs an experienced executive from the private sector to turn it around, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the information is not public. Jarana, 46, has been head of Vodacom’s enterprise division since 2012 and previously had been chief operating officer of the wireless carrier. He was the preferred choice of a number of members who had been appointed to the SAA board by the Treasury in 2016, one of the people said. Chairwoman Dudu Myeni, who also heads President Jacob Zuma’s charitable foundation, prefers a different candidate, the person said.
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