Cabinet concerned about SAA developments

"Cabinet has noted with concern the developments that have unfolded with the resignation of the CEO [Siza Mzimela] and some of the executive management of the national carrier, SAA," Acting Minister for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Richard Baloyi said on Thursday.

He was briefing media on Cabinet's meeting this week.

At the end of last month, eight members of the SAA board resigned, including the Chairperson of the SAA Board Cheryl Carolus; Russell Loubser; Bonang Mohale; Louis Rabbets; Jabulani Ndhlovu; David Lewis; Teddy Daka and Maggie Whitehouse.

Earlier this week, Mzimela announced her resignation through a letter sent to SAA staff. She had headed up SAA since 24 February 2010.

Baloyi said this came at a point when Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba was finalising the development of the sustainable long term vision for the national carrier.

Last week, newly appointed SAA board chairperson Vuyisile Kona told SAnews that the integrity of SAA would continue to be a priority, while much focus would be put on fine-tuning operations at the airline.

Kona was appointed following the immediate resignation of eight members of the previous board.

The national carrier made a net profit of R581 million for the 2009/2010, while in 2011 the airline showed profit of R782 million and contributed R11.7 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as tourists flocked to the country.