SAA rocked as director hits eject button
BARELY 10 months since setting course for what it vowed would be better prospects, South African Airways has once again been hit by a leadership crisis following the resignation of a high-profile board member.
This week, senior counsel Lindi Nkosi-Thomas confirmed she had quit as an SAA director amid sensational allegations of infighting and spying on board members of the ailing airline.
Nkosi-Thomas said she tendered her resignation to Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba last month, partly because of the “breakdown of the professional relationship” with some of her fellow board members, including the airline’s CEO, Monwabisi Kalawe, and also because of her busy law practice.
“I resigned in part because I felt myself unable to carry on working with some of the board members, given the professional relationship breakdown,” she said on Friday.
She said members of the board, as in any other entity, were expected to be beyond reproach at all times.
“Therefore, if anyone were to commission an investigation of whatever type into the board, [that] should be welcome so that South Africans are assured at all times that the board is indeed beyond reproach.
“If I were still a member of that board, I would welcome any such investigation,” she said.
However, her resignation is the second time that internal tension at board level has led to casualties.
Last year, Gigaba fired former SAA CEO Vuyisile Kona, who at one time also acted as its chairman, saying he caused board tensions. Kona is embroiled in a legal tussle with Gigaba over the removal.
The latest ruction comes after Gigaba had to reconstitute the board in September 2012 after the resignations of chairwoman Cheryl Car- olus and seven directors, including former JSE CEO Russell Loubser, over what they said was a lack of government support.
Gigaba’s board was tasked with turning around the airline after a decade of poor performance.
Nkosi-Thomas’s resignation on February 24 followed the board’s discovery that SAA management had carried out an illegal and unauthorised investigation of the board.
In January, chairwoman Dudu Myeni alerted other directors to an internal whistleblower’s report that claimed the airline’s management was investigating her and other board members.
Apparently, this was done with the cooperation of one faction of the board. When asked about Nkosi-Thomas’s resignation, Myeni said SAA had lost a credible legal mind, but played down fallout claims.
SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali refused to comment on the spying claims, saying there was no resolution by the board or executive committee on a forensic investigation against any board members.