The embattled SAA has come under fire for a top management that is dominated by white males, as the airline transitions into a restructured company.
Unions at SAA and the SACP have come out guns blazing against senior executive management of the troubled organisation, charging that not only have black executives been sidelined, but the structure comprised foreigners who are said to have earned millions of rand while the airline was teetering on the brink of collapse.
Key positions in the top management were either white foreigners or white South Africans, in the main. The executive management that is currently running the revival of the airline included Philip Saunders, Deon Fredericks, Martin Kemp, Cobus Mc Quirk, Adam Voss, Nico Bezuidenhout and Manish Raniga. The unions have taken issue with the appointment of expats such as interim CEO Saunders, who is from the UK, the CEO of SA Technical Voss, who is from New Zealand and Raniga, the acting chief commercial officer, who is from India. Fredericks is interim chief financial officer while Mc Quirk is acting chief information officer.
Kemp was appointed acting general manager for human resources. National Union of Metalworkers of SA spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the union was not convinced that there was no local talent to run the airline, adding that the same white executives running the show were responsible for the almost total collapse of SAA.
“Philip Saunders and Adam Voss [and Raniga] are paid in forex, which deepens the cost burden for SAA. We have a long history of aviation in this country. We are unconvinced that there is no local talent to take up the roles occupied by these white men,” she said.
Cosatu affiliate SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) said it would put up a fight to ensure that the new board and management of a restructured SAA is transformed.
“The issue at hand is that the governing structure/ board[s] of SAA failed in transforming the airline. The reason for this is that a majority of executive managers and pilots are white males,” said Satawu deputy general secretary Anele Kiet.
“The appointment of a white CEO, for an example, took place under the helm of a democratic government.”
SACP first deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said the party did not mean exclusion of black people from management and other categories at any stage of the restructuring when it fought for the national carrier to be saved, adding that the SACP would engage its alliance partners – ANC and Cosatu – on what is happening at SAA.
Public Enterprises spokesperson Sam Mkokeli said the national carrier had a representativity of 60% Africans before it was placed under business rescue.
“The new SAA has an express mandate to contribute to economic and strategic needs. Its recruitment practices must, among other priorities, lead to a significant transformation in the aviation industry, and make sure this sector demonstrates SA’s demographics,” he said.
