SA’s SEOs: how solid businesses have been mismanaged to the point of extinction, writes brucebusiness.
I was standing toe-to-toe with Pravin Gordhan, then on one of his stints as Jacob Zuma’s finance minister. We were in the Kirchner Museum in Davos at a World Economic Forum gathering in 2015/2016 or thereabouts and I asked: “Why don’t you just give SAA away?” It was as clear as day that the government’s boardroom interference was the root cause of the airline’s financial distress.
That’s R51 more than I had proposed, but by the time the deal was done and Covid had eviscerated the global airline industry, there was very little left of a once globally respected operator. Whether the Takatso deal is ever consummated remains to be seen. The government had to be pushed to the very brink before it made the logical decision to rid itself of a long-term liability. It is, however, reluctant to apply those lessons elsewhere.
Now Eskom is going the same way. Its ancient generation fleet is being held together with the engineering equivalent of plasters and chewing gum. Breakdowns are increasingly common and it’s incapable of providing enough energy to keep the lights on.
Former SA Post Office CEO Mark Barnes proposed to the government that he lead a consortium including unions to revitalise the service — he has had no official response other than a dismissal via a media report that he was seen to be taking a chance. He probably was, but talk to him and negotiate a better deal.
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