STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES
CAROL PATON: SAA may finally have landed a CEO untainted by politics
It does seem that for the first time in many years a CEO will be in with a fair chance of making SAA work
The appointment of a telecoms professional to run a bankrupt state airline looked a bit odd when it was announced by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba in August. Apart from Vuyani Jarana’s lack of aviation experience, the question uppermost in most people’s minds was why any sane person would want the job. South African Airways (SAA) has suffered years of abuse due to political appointments of directors and CEOs, which have undermined its commercial mandate. Its only efficiency has been as a dispenser of political patronage.Was Jarana, the first permanent appointment to the post in two years, another manifestation of this worrying trend? What made things look even odder was that it took the SAA board a month after Gigaba’s announcement to issue Jarana with his letter of appointment. Since the board selects the appointee and the minister and the Cabinet then affirm the appointment, the order of events seemed wrong. Digging into the background of what happened has been pleasantly surpris...
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