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Fin24 reports that after about a year at the helm, interim SA Airways (SAA) CEO Thomas Kgokolo is leaving, thereby joining a long list of chief executives who have quit since 2010.
For the most part, Industry insiders expressed disappointment after SAA on Thursday announced Kgokolo's plans to exit the airline. Kgokolo left SAA at the end of April, with airline chair John Lamola assuming the role of interim CEO with effect from 1 May. The airline has faced, among its other challenges, a lack of leadership stability. Since 2010, it has had three CEOs and five acting CEOs – one of whom did so twice. The airline said in its statement that Lamola would perform the dual roles of executive chair and CEO until SAA's strategic equity partner, the Takatso Consortium, takes a 51% stake in the airline "later this year". Aviation expert Guy Leitch suggested that anyone accepting the role of CEO at SAA would inevitably be subject to heavy opposition: "Kgokolo had a very measured and cautious approach to getting SAA back in the air. His measured response has been commendable, but the simple fact of the matter is, being the CEO of SAA is a hospital pass. It is a job you cannot win at due to government interference instead of leaving them to get on with the job. The other issue at SAA is the challenge created by the dual mandate of having to be developmental while at the same time meeting the bottom line of profitability." Kgokolo joined the long list of SAA CEOs as "just another one leaving", said another industry insider. Unions Sacca and Numsa were not flattering about Kgokolo, noting that he “blatantly refused to interact with labour.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carin Smith at Fin24 (subscriber access only)
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