JOHANNESBURG – In the wake of CEO Vuyani Jarana’s resignation, South African Airways have since appointed Zuks Ramasia as an interim boss.
The embattled airliner’s board announced the appointment on Friday, saying that the interim CEO will steer the ship while they look for a replacement as The Citizen reports.
Ramasia is a former general manager, she replaces Jarana whose contract was set to expire at the end of August after serving his notice period and the board said he will briefly hand over on Monday.
Addressing the media on Friday, board member Thandeka Mgoduso confirmed that Jarana, who did not attend the briefing, would not be serving a notice period into the end of August.
“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 the office is Monday the 10th of June as per agreement with the board,” Mgoduso said to the media.
“The board has commenced a search, domestically and globally, for a permanent CEO with appropriate experience and expertise to stabilize the company and to oversee the implementation of the long-term turnaround strategy.
“As a consequence of the change in leadership, Mr. Vuyani Jarana will no longer serve as the CEO of SAA as from end of day on Monday, but will avail himself to provide transitional support and handover processes to the board, and management when so required for the duration of his notice period which goes on until the end of August,” she added.
The former Vodacom boss Jarana, tendered his resignation last week as group chief executive, lamenting the national carrier’s mounting debt due to uncertainty about funding and lack of support from the government as a shareholder in implementing the airline’s long-term turnaround strategy.
In a leaked letter to the media, Jarana stated that a big chunk of the R5 billion bailout the airline received from the state 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 was on the brink of failing to pay salaries on three occasions.
On the other hand, Mgoduso backed the interim CEO saying Ramasia was a seasoned executive with an extensive aviation background.
“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 optimize the aviation assets of the State,” Mgoduso continued.
“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,” concluded Mgoduso.
Photo: SAA
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