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How much longer will SAA fly without a permanent CEO? Gigaba doesn't know

Cape Town – Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba can't determine how long it will take for a new SAA CEO to be appointed.

Responding to a parliamentary question posed by Alf Lees from the Democratic Alliance (DA), Gigaba said the top three candidates shortlisted for the position were supposed to be presented to the SAA board in the week of May 22.

“We are not able to determine how long the shareholder representative processes will take in bringing this matter to a conclusion,” Gigaba said.

Five candidates - two South Africans and three internationals – were initially shortlisted, Gigaba said.

SAA has been without a permanent CEO since November 2015 when its chief technical officer Musa Zwane has been in an acting position. Zwane is the seventh permanent or temporary CEO of the airline since 2010.

Fin24 earlier reported that SAA has identified Vodacom Group executive Vuyani Jarana as the leading candidate to become CEO of the national carrier.

READ: SAA said to favour Vodacom exec as CEO 

Jarana, 46, has been head of Vodacom’s enterprise division since 2012 and was previously chief operating officer at the group.

SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni however purportedly has a different candidate in mind. The Sunday Times reported in June that Myeni allegedly attempted to stop an SAA board meeting aimed at approving Jarana’s nomination, as she doesn’t approve of the candidate.

Gigaba at a press briefing earlier hinted that Myeni’s role at SAA could come to an end at the airline’s annual general meeting this year.  “At the upcoming AGM, we will attend to the matter of appointing her successor,” he said.

READ: Myeni's time at SAA running out as broke airline gets another bailout

In addition, Yunus Carrim, chairperson of the standing committee on finance in Parliament in a statement issued on Sunday called for a review of the SAA board chairperson position, following yet another multi-billion rand bailout.

Treasury on Saturday announced that SAA will receive a R2.2bn bailout from the National Revenue Fund to repay its debt to Standard Chartered Bank to avoid defaulting.

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