Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan admitted that the reappointment of SAA board chair Dudu Myeni was a “result of stakeholders considering the merits and demerits” of individuals.
Gordhan was responding to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday when he was asked in a follow up question why National Treasury opposed the reappointment of incumbent chair Myeni.
Infograph: Digging deeper into SAA's new board
Gordhan didn’t go into further detail about Myeni’s appointment specifically, but said that he didn’t see the chairperson of the board as someone who can do what they like.
"I do not see the SAA chair as an all-powerful person who can do what he or she likes," he said. “Board decisions are made on a democratic basis.”
He emphasised that the shareholder (national treasury in SAA’s case) would keep a close eye on the board to see if matters are executed in accordance with corporate governance rules. “We’ll also make sure that the board works as a team and in the interest of the airline.”
In response to a question from DA MP Alf Lees, Gordhan said he never explicitly mentioned the word “privatisation” in his budget speech this year when he spoke about SAA.
“I did say I and the minister of enterprises (Lynne Brown) were exploring a possible merger of SAA and SA Express and a possible minority shareholder.”
According to Gordhan, the matter was still looked into.
Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter:
