Update (March 19, 10am): In an interview on Radio 702 this morning, South African Airways CEO, Vuyani Jarana, refuted figures reported in the March 18 Sunday Times article, ‘Struggling SAA spends R35m on bodyguards for five key personnel’. Jarana said the figures were out of kilter with the details the airline had. “The numbers reported [for the cost of the bodyguards] are at the upper-end of the level. [This will only be considered] should the threat escalate to that level. The devil is in the detail that I can’t discuss on a public platform, because it compromises security."
Jarana added that the allegation that the SAA board had rejected a proposal to award R149m (€10.1m) to a consultancy to 'redo' the organisational structure was “still in the procurement process – it hasn’t even gone to the board”. “The finance committee of the board is part of the early stages. The same people who sent that information are the people who are supposed to help make the procurement process work right. But where I sit in SAA, I’m dealing with [people] who are seeking to undermine the transformation process.”
He indicated that there were four things needed to transform SAA, including sorting out the revenue and performance of the network, wherein decisions were already being taken by the airline. Indemnity issues in procurement would also need to be dealt with, as well as organisation design and basis processes. "We are not any closer to knowing how many people will be retrenched, [and] in what framework. I said when I got here: there’s no way I’m going to...cut these numbers based on averages. You need an operating model that is fit for the future; you need to design a new SAA."
Published in Tourism Update, Sunday March 18
According to a report in the Sunday Times yesterday, March 18, South African Airways is arming five of its top personnel with bodyguards ahead of massive job cuts, as part of a turnaround strategy to return the national carrier to profitability.
The new leadership of SAA, headed by CEO, Vuyani Jarana, and the board of directors are planning to cut routes, sell part of the business, and retire the airline’s inefficient aircraft, as part of the strategy – this is in addition to the recent suspension of the airline’s CFO, Phumeza Nhantsi, and former Acting CEO, Musa Zwane.
The bodyguards are a precaution ahead of the planned job cuts, and will cost SAA an estimated R35m (€2.38m), in a two-year deal signed with security company Control Risks. The deal was implemented on March 1. Tens of millions of rands will also be spent on restructuring the company.
SAA Spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, spoke out strongly against media speculation regarding the bodyguards and associated costs, as well as the retrenchment plan, saying it bore the hallmarks of “a malicious campaign designed to distract SAA from implementing its turnaround strategy”. He continued: “This [campaign] is being executed through a series of information leaks to the media calculated to impugn the reputation [and] blemish the image and good names of those who insist on accountability and good governance at SAA.”
Tlali said the “current board and the new leadership of SAA would not compromise on implementing the turnaround strategy”.
