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Disgruntled staff SAA's top priority, says new boss Musa Zwane

Cape Town – The freshly appointed South African Airways (SAA) acting CEO has spoken his first words in the new role.

Musa Zwane, the seventh permanent or acting CEO at SAA in less than four years, told the Standing Committee on Finance in parliament on Wednesday that SAA needs to engage with all disgruntled employees who have issues with the state-owned company.

The head of the state-owned carrier’s maintenance unit was moved into the role to replace Thuli Mpshe, who had held the position on a temporary basis for less than four months.

SAA named Mpshe as acting CEO after Nico Bezuidenhout returned to his role as head of low-cost airline Mango in July.

On Tuesday, the SAA board said that Mpshe, whose main role is head of HR, was asked to return to this department to focus on the issues stemming from the disgruntled employees.

Zwane said on Wednesday SAA’s pilots, cabin crew and technical staff all had serious issues with the company and the management had to engage with each team equally.

“We cannot elevate one stakeholder over the others,” he said.

On Monday, at a special general meeting at SAA headquarters, pilots of SAA voted overwhelmingly in favour of a vote of no confidence in both the chair and non-executive directors of the board.

Captain John Harty, chair of the SAA Pilots Association, said in a statement that the vote of no confidence was prefaced by a discussion on the financial situation at SAA, the controversial Airbus deal and possible breaches of certain legislation as well as the impact of recent statements made by the chair on the authority of the captain of an aircraft.

At the time Harty said it is hoped that this vote of no confidence will serve as a clarion call to Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene and the government that the future of SAA requires immediate and urgent attention and that a new board, "fit for purpose and able to deal with the challenges currently facing the airline", be appointed as soon as possible.

SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni said the issue with the pilots started when they split the role of chief pilot.  

“When I was appointed to act as chairperson, the chief pilot was retiring and we felt for 81 years we had never had a chief black pilot.

“It was a position that was going to be advertised and we decided to give black pilots an opportunity,” she said.

A compromise was made where the position of chief pilot split into two, she explained. “The chief pilot became a ceremonial position and now the most powerful is the flight operations management position.”

“It is OK to split it, but we felt we don’t have faith in own home-grown leaders. That is what has led to the issue.”

Zwane also said the pilots were complaining about the Airbus deal, while the cabin crew and technical staff had historical issues around racism and discrimination.

“All of these are key to having a smooth running organisation,” he said.

READ: SAA, Airbus R6bn deal under scrutiny

The R6bn Airbus aircraft deal has come under the microscope after SAA board members were allegedly put under pressure into approving “an unaffordable” deal with the French aircraft manufacturer. The deal has now become the subject of an Ernst & Young investigation.

In 2002 SAA ordered 40 aircraft from Airbus. The arrival of the aircraft was staggered, with 30 delivered by 2013. From the original deal, there were about 10 A320-200 aircraft still outstanding. In 2014, SAA took a decision to amend the original contract by swapping the remaining ten with A330 aircraft, regarded as having the right range and payload performance for the routes and markets SAA wants to develop.

The A320s are 165-seater single-aisle aircraft designed for use on domestic and regional routes. The A330s are 250-350 seater wide-body jetliners designed for medium and long-range flights.

Due to the dollar and rand exchange rate, SAA could only secure five aircraft for the initial amount that had been paid.

SAA meanwhile said it also plans to make an announcement later this week regarding the position of the chief financial officer after Wolf Meyer resigned to pursue other interests.

In July SAA's chief strategy officer Barry Parsons resigned, saying he had lost all confidence in the board to lead and progress the business.


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