By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Cabinet has approved Professor John Lamola’s permanent appointment as the group chief executive officer of South African Airways (SAA) for a two-year term.
Just before a post-Cabinet briefing was due to get underway on Thursday morning, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, issued a statement congratulating Lamola.
Creecy had put forward Lamola’s name after the ANC’s deployment committee gave him the nod, despite him having scored the lowest out of the three final candidates.
The SAA board initially recommended Alla Kilavuka, the current Kenya Airways CEO, as the preferred candidate. Philip Saunders also ranked higher than Lamola. Saunders was appointed SAA’s chief commercial officer in 2019 and briefly became the airline’s interim CEO in 2020.
Creecy and Deputy President Paul Mashatile held interviews with Lamola and Kilavuka, months after they had already been interviewed by the board of SAA.
The decision has sparked controversy, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) filing a complaint with the Public Protector against Mashatile and Creecy for undue political interference in the selection process.
The decision to side-line Kilavuka, along with the highest-scoring candidate, Philip Saunders, in favour of Lamola, who ranked the lowest in independent competency assessments, raises serious concerns about the integrity and transparency of the process, the party said in a statement.
The DA further alleged that the deputy president and Creecy had private interviews at Mashatile’s residence, describing it as “an apparent attempt to manipulate the outcome in favour of a politically connected candidate”. Claiming the move was another example of “cadre deployment”, which the DA has consistently opposed.