On Wednesday 15 October 2014, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, notified Members of the South African Airways (SAA) Board of a Special General Meeting to be held on Thursday 23 October 2014. Minister Brown was acting in her formal capacity as the designated Representative of the sole Shareholder of the airline, the South African Government.
Among the items on the agenda is the removal of non-executive members of the Board.
Subsequently, four non-executive directors submitted their formal resignations to Minister Brown by this morning.
At the time of the release of this statement on Friday, 17 October at 14h00 no other resignations had been received by Minister Brown despite media reports indicating that others had resigned.
"It is a pity that some Board members have chosen this path. The meeting is intended to give them the opportunity to respond on the record."
"I am limiting my comments on the matter of Board membership to that at the moment in the interest of fairness to those who do choose to attend the meeting."
"In general, the Minister of Finance and I are leading an inter-ministerial task team, which includes our Directors-General, focusing on the future of the airline.
"SAA has been making losses over a number of years and any intervention arising from our work will be aimed at getting the company to live off its balance sheet as soon as possible," said Minister Brown.
For media enquiries contact:
Colin Cruywagen
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E-mail: colin.cruywagen@dpe.gov.za
