‘SAA requires a whole new board’: Gordhan

26 July 2016 - 12:14 By Ntsakisi Maswanganyi

Embattled South African Airways (SAA) requires a “whole new board”‚ Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said at an EY/Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry event on Tuesday. The airline is in financial difficulty and often relies on government bailouts to continue operating.“Once that board is in place‚ we require an experienced management team‚ which might include existing people but certainly requires new blood as well‚” Gordhan said. “We've got to go back and do some political homework to make sure that we can get credible people onto the board and also people with the right balance of skills and exposure to take the airline into the next phase of hopefully upward development‚” he said.SAA’s latest scandal involves the termination of a deal with BnP Capital‚ a “boutique” finanancier which the airline had appointed to help it restructure a R15bn debt and to raise funds in return for a R256m success fee.Gordhan said he had not had an opportunity to get into the “full details of the R256m and its alleged cancellation fee”‚ but that he would be looking into it. If any non-compliance to the Public Finance Management Act was found to have occurred‚ then steps would be taken‚ the minister said.Gordhan said there was a need for SAA's turn-around strategy to continue and for the airline to be put on a “sustainable financial path”. TMG Digital/BDlive..

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