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Cape Town - Vuyani Jarana has been appointed as the new CEO of SAA.
There has been speculation that Jarana has been earmarked for the position - SAA’s first permanent chief executive officer since November 2015.
Jarana, 46, has been head of Vodacom’s enterprise division since 2012 and was previously chief operating officer at the mobile company.
He was allegedly the preferred choice of a number of board members. SAA Chair Dudu Myeni, however had a different candidate in mind.
The Sunday Times in June reported that Myeni attempted to halt an SAA board meeting aimed at approving Jarana’s nomination, as she doesn’t approve of the candidate.
SAA has been run on an acting basis by chief technical officer Musa Zwane since 2015. He is the seventh permanent or temporary CEO of the airline since 2010.
National Treasury said in a statement Jarana will commence his duties after his current employer has officially released him.
Jarana was praised for the transformative role he has played at Vodacom. "Mr Jarana has, among others, transformed and positioned Vodacom Business as a growth engine of Vodacom, growing its contribution to group service revenues from under 10% to 25% over three years."
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba congratulated Jarana in the statement, saying “given that Mr Jarana has turned around a loss-making subsidiary of the Vodacom Group, Vodacom Business Africa, into profitable and growth business, we believe he will be key in turning around SAA.”
Other than the appointment of an SAA CEO, Gigaba also said he would meet the other deadlines set in the 14-point Action Plan released in July, stating that he will implement the Preferential Procurement Regulations which took effect on April 1 and engage other government departments on the Private Sector Participation framework.
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