Goodbye, SAA
News that Vuyani Jarana has resigned as CEO of SAA is an indication of the difficulties facing the national airline.
A cruel but accurate summary of the state of the airline: We regret that the flight will be delayed due to a technical problem. The pilot heard an unusual noise from one of the engines and won’t take off until it is attended to. We will take off as soon as we get another pilot.
It seemed like a good idea to put a seasoned executive with experience in the business world and good standing in financial markets into the left-hand seat. But it was only going to work if he was given ultimate control of the aeroplane. Vuyani Jarana’s resignation over the weekend indicates that this didn’t happen.
Jarana had a better chance than most of getting SAA right. Despite lacking experience in the highly competitive aviation industry, his experience and success in the equally competitive telecommunications sector as a senior executive at Vodacom would have been enough to get SAA on the right heading. Vodacom is a huge business, much bigger than SAA. In the year to March 2019, Vodacom reported turnover of R74 billion from 110 million customers, which translated into an operating profit of more than R24 billion.
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