The following appeared in the Business Day newsletter today:
A CONFIDENTIAL report detailing alleged irregularities at South African Airways (SAA) was threatening to plunge the national carrier into yet another scandal, the Afrikaans daily newspaper Beeld reported on Tuesday.
In the report it is alleged that SAA interim CEO Monwabisi Kalawe kept the SAA board in the dark and even misled it about his alleged efforts to buy shares in an "insolvent" airline.
According to the report Mr Kalawe negotiated for five months without the knowledge or consent of the board to buy shares in the "insolvent" Senegal Airways.
Business Day reported in January this year about the transaction after SAA said it had been approached by the Senegalese government to acquire a stake in Senegal Airlines, and that it was considering the offer.
Once again we have evidence of the apparent in-fighting that is going on between the SAA board and SAA management. In view of the dire situation that the airline finds itself in, this is not too surprising. However, it would be in our best interest for all the brain power and energy to be focussed on strategic solutions, not personal points gathering.
Links to aviation partners:
www.eptaviation.com
www.cranfield.co.za
www.aeroservices.co.za
www.webb-elgin.com
Links to aviation partners:
www.eptaviation.com
www.cranfield.co.za
www.aeroservices.co.za
www.webb-elgin.com
The Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, has labelled the SAA board members that leaked confidential board meeting minutes as “reckless and moronic” and has promised that serious action will be taken against those conducting a “witch hunt” against the CEO of SAA, Monwabisi Kalawe.
ReplyDeleteThe confidential report, which was leaked to newspapers Beeld and Rapport, stated that Acting Chairperson, Dudu Myeni, had asked the auditor-general to investigate the SAA CEO over at least four allegations, including negotiating to buy a stake in Senegal Airways without the board’s knowledge, as well as charging passengers for a baggage-wrapping services that were not yet in operation.
But Gigaba said the allegations being made were irrational and that there was no need for them to be chased. He added that if the accuser had the courage of their convictions they should have followed proper process. “They should have gone to the board for a resolution, which they would bring to the shareholder representative (the Minister of Public Enterprises) and I would then apply my discretion to the matter. This has not happened,” he said.
He continued to say that there was no discord within the board of SAA. “I want to assure you, I know who they are. They have committed a crime by breaching the confidentiality to which they swore when they accepted their positions on the board and I am going to treat this manner in a very serious light. They have undermined not only the shareholder representative, but the shareholder itself, the South African government by taking the allegations publically when they have not been tested internally,” he said.