Coming back down to earth

Another week brings us another catastrophe for the national carrier, which is heading rapidly towards being reclassified as the national carrion.

This time the gloom at SA Airways (SAA) is caused by the news that Standard Chartered has been rude enough to ask for its money back. It has allegedly caused a certain amount of rooting around down the back of the executive sofa to see if there’s R2.3bn in loose change hanging around to repay the bankers, or whether it means the ever-generous taxpayer will be forced to shell out once more.

At a time of crisis, firm and decisive leadership is essential. But it would seem that everybody’s favourite aviation expert, SAA chair “deep in the” Dudu Myeni, has gone into stealth mode.

The formerly highly visible and indeed voluble airline guru is reported to have missed meeting after meeting, depriving the board of her wise counsel and cutting-edge industry expertise in its time of need. Perhaps this is a reaction to finance minister Malusi Gigaba announcing that her days are numbered and that SAA will get a new chair after its AGM.

We can only hope that the individual selected for this hottest of hot seats has at least a modicum of the skills required to navigate the airline back towards some semblance of financial stability. Perhaps it would be sensible to start by suggesting that the candidate has an ounce or two of experience in the aviation industry — possibly even having led a profitable operation in the past — so that at least there’s some hope SAA stops pillaging the public purse.