South African Airways (SAA) CEO Vuyani Jarana has tendered his resignation.<\/p>\n
Fin24<\/a> <\/strong>reports that Jarana will leave the airline on 31 August 2019 – having served just over two years in the head role at the struggling airline.<\/p>\n According to his resignation letter to SAA board chairperson JB Magwaza, the CEO unpacked how uncertainty about funding and slow decision-making processes were delaying the airline’s turnaround strategy.<\/p>\n “The strategy is being systemically undermined, and as the group chief executive officer, I can no longer be able to assure the board and the public that the LTTS is achievable,” he said.<\/p>\n “Whereas government injected R5 billion of funding in the 2018\/2019 financial year, a big chunk of that was used to fund creditors up to the end of March 2018.<\/p>\n “We have not been able to obtain any further commitment from government making it very difficult to focus on the execution of the strategy,” Jarana said.<\/p>\n State-owned enterprises<\/strong><\/p>\n Jarana was previously chief operating officer at Vodacom before heading up its enterprise division.<\/p>\n His resignation follows hot on the heels on the announcement that Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe would also be stepping down.<\/p>\n This may put minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, in a tough position as he battles to balance the books at the struggling state-owned enterprises while continuing to clear out corruption.<\/p>\n Eskom’s s debt is approaching R500 billion ($35 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg<\/a> <\/strong>from public records, including bonds and issued loans, up from about R370 billion a year ago and is compounding the difficulty the government faces in formulating a turnaround plan for the troubled utility.<\/p>\n In April, SAA said it was moving closer to an agreement<\/a><\/strong> with lenders to extend R9.2 billion rand ($642 million) of debt – a deal that would buy the unprofitable state airline more time to restore its battered finances.<\/p>\n
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