Godi calls for end to SAA looting
‘Theft like there’s no tomorrow’
Standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) chairperson Themba Godi has called for the restructuring of SAA to end “looting fiefdoms” at the national carrier.
Godi made the comment following an intense grilling of the SAA board and executive management in Kempton Park yesterday. The committee was dealing with problems confronting the airline.
During the engagement with the board it was agreed that SAA subsidiaries‚ particularly Mango and SAA Technical‚ were running their own show with impunity.
Godi said aircraft components were being stolen “like there is no tomorrow“.
SAA board chair JB Magwaza called the two subsidiaries “problem areas”‚ while board member Ahmed Bassa charged that SAA Technical and Mango were running parallel to the SAA group.
Scopa member and EFF MP Veronica Mente said this situation should not be allowed‚ charging that SAA was losing R5-billion as a result of problems brought about by “unaccountable” SAA Technical.
ANC MP Saki Kekana said SAA Technical had become “untouchable and a standalone“‚ so much so that SAA group chief executive Vuyani Jarana said it “cannot intervene and nobody is doing anything to end this”.
Godi‚ in agreement with Scopa members and Magwaza‚ said the achilles heel was a company structure that allowed SAA Technical and Mango to have separate boards and chief executives‚ who refuse to account to Jarana.
“The problem that creates these little fiefdoms‚ where people are able to loot like there is no tomorrow‚ is the structure of the relationship between SAA group and its subsidiaries‚ which creates an ‘us’ and ‘them’ situation.
“So you will find that when SAA group wants to intervene there are push backs. Our call is for integration‚ where the boards of subsidiaries are constituted by senior managers at SAA and report to the SAA board to have a seamless interaction because right now it is governed by personal attitudes.”
Godi said the review of the SAA structure would help improve the financial situation of the state entity.