Siza Mzimela, who until Tuesday was the CEO of embattled airline SA Express, has taken up office as chief executive of Transnet Freight Rail (TFR).
This was confirmed to FTW Online by a TFR spokesman who said that more details about her appointment would be released at a later stage.
It follows the announcement earlier this week by SA Express that Mzimela, appointed 18 months ago with the sole task of resuscitating the airline, was leaving to “pursue other interests”.
Earlier this year FTW Online reported that despite ongoing efforts by the management team, SA Express had been forced into business rescue by its creditors, in particular Ziegler SA.
The global logistics and transport company took the airline to court demanding it be placed under business rescue after several attempts to retrieve money owed failed. SA Express owed Ziegler SA more than R11m. At the time the airline was already technically considered insolvent as its liabilities exceeded its assets and it had recorded a loss of R591 million during the 2018/19 financial year.
Since then the business rescue practitioners of SA Express have launched an urgent application at the Johannesburg High Court to liquidate the airline. The case has yet to be heard by the court. It is expected to come before the court in late April.
SA Express yesterday said Thuli Mpse had been appointed acting CEO, effective from Wednesday.
