JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (ANA) - South African Airways (SAA) on Friday announced long-standing executive Zuks Ramasia as the interim group chief executive following the resignation of Vuyani Jarana.
">SAA board member Thandeka Mgoduso addressed the media briefing at the airline's headquarters. Mgoduso confirmed that Jarana, who did not attend the briefing, would not be serving a notice period into the end August after the board acceded to his request to be let go early following his resignation last weekend.
">"The board of South African Airways is pleased to announce the appointment of Miss Zuks Ramasia as the acting chief executive officer of SAA as of Monday because the outgoing CEO's last day in office is Monday the 10th of June as per agreement with the board," Mgoduso said.
">"The board has commenced a search, domestically and globally for a permanent CEO with appropriate experience and expertise to stabilise the company and to oversee the implementation of the long-term turnaround strategy.
">Ramasia was previously general manager for operations at SAA.
">Jarana tendered his resignation last week as group chief executive, citing the airline's mounting debt due to uncertainty about funding and lack of support from government as a shareholder in implementing the airline's long-term turnaround strategy.
">In his leaked resignation letter, Jarana said that a big chunk of the R5-billion bailout SAA had received from government for the 2018/19 financial year had been used to pay creditors up to the end of March 2018, to the point that the airline had been on the brink of failing to pay salaries on three occasions.
">"With the support of the shareholder, the board and executive management of SAA are fully committed to the turnaround strategy. In that regard, we are working closely with the shareholder to optimise the aviation assets of the State," Mgoduso said.
">"The board is also taking steps to strengthen the executive capacity in the group. We have appointed Adam Vos as the new CEO of South African Airways Technical, and we are finalising the appointment of a permanent CEO for Mango. We are close to concluding other senior appointments and will make further announcements in due course."
">Fielding questions, Magwaza said that the board was not happy with Jarana's resignation, and had asked him to stay "but he said no".
">Mgoduso said that the board acknowledged the critical financial circumstances confronting the airline, and was thus in ongoing discussions with the department of public enterprises, National Treasury, and financial institutions with respect to putting in place a financial structure appropriate to support the long-term sustainability of the company.
">- African News Agency (ANA)
