SAA set to hold crucial meeting

THE DECISION by Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and two members of the SAA board not to make any further public comments on the current status of the chief executive, Monwabisi Kalawe, until they met early this week made his intention to return to work last Friday academic, his lawyer said.

Kalawe’s lawyer, Mushtak Parker, said on Friday: “Nothing is to happen until the meeting. The return of Kalawe to SAA is now academic.”

The office of Brown said on Thursday night Brown, Kalawe, and two board members, Tony Dixon and John Tambi, who are delegated by the board to deal with the current status of Kalawe, had agreed to meet early this week to seek a resolution to unresolved matters between the board and the chief executive.

“The parties agreed late on Thursday afternoon not to make any further public statements until after the meeting. Minister Brown will be represented by her special adviser, Brendon Roberts, who will chair the meeting,” the statement said.

Notable is the exclusion from the meeting of Dudu Myeni, the chairwoman of SAA, who is at the epicentre of the “unresolved matters”.

Myeni suspended Kalawe without giving any reasons, but she was ordered by Brown to reinstate him or face removal herself from the board.

In a second of two meetings last Monday between Brown and the finance minister and the board, the board confirmed what it had reported in writing to Brown a week before that it had lifted the suspension of Kalawe retrospectively. This was denied by Parker, who said SAA’s lawyers had written to him, saying Kalawe “is and remains on suspension”.

A source with inside knowledge said Myeni might not survive beyond the life of the interim board. He said the board itself, as it is interim, might be dissolved after it had achieved what it was meant to.

In her meeting with the board last Monday, Brown read out the riot act and told it that as a matter of urgency it must:

Finalise the airline’s financial statement.

Meet all the requirements for holding its annual general meeting, which needs to take place by no later than the end of April 2015.

Make it possible for Brown to table the integrated report in Parliament as soon as possible.

Appoint a turnaround specialist as soon as possible to set the airline on the path of profitability.