Zuma, Gordhan’s conflicting orders frustrate SAA’s acting CEO

South African Airways is having to deal with conflicting orders from the country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Jacob Zuma and that’s hindering the unprofitable state-owned airline from making a full recovery, acting CEO Musa Zwane said. The carrier needs firm decisions on whether SAA should be privatized, how it should be capitalized, the make-up of a new board and a new CEO, Zwane said in an interview. The former head of the airline’s maintenance unit said he hasn’t put his name forward for the permanent position, and a short-list for his successor is being discussed by the Treasury. “You have conflicting messages: the minister in his budget says this, and then the president says something different,” Zwane said. “This is not a tough role, but I think if you look at the dynamics of the role and the role-players, they make it tough.” Zuma and Gordhan, who was reappointed to the post in December having previously served as finance minister from 2009 to 2014, have given Zwane opposing guidance on whether fellow state carrier SA Express should be integrated into SAA, the CEO said. The government is considering merging the two airlines and selling a stake in the enlarged carrier to private investors, Gordhan said in his budget speech in February. In contrast, Zuma said on a visit to SAA’s headquarters last month that the government would never sell or privatize the carrier.<br/>