By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South African Airways (SAA) Interim CEO Thomas Kgokolo is to leave the airline at the end of April 2022.
Kgokolo was appointed in April last year on an interim basis when SAA exited business rescue.
He also leaves behind unanswered questions about the SAA Alpha Floor incident in February last year which the airline repeatedly refused to answer. The incident comprised a narrowly missed crash after crew allegedly did not follow procedure to correct a known flaw on the aircraft’s computer system on departure and, on the way back from its Belgian vaccine run, the same operating pilots transgressed European noise pollution regulations.
The outgoing CEO promised to release the incident report by last year August, but subsequent enquiries were met with no comment from the airline and civil aviation.
John Lamola will assume the role of the executive chair as well as CEO with effect from 1 May 2022.
In a statement released on Thursday night the airline hinted at readying itself for the long overdue Takatso Consortium takeover.
“Since exiting business rescue in April 2021 SAA has made significant strides in improving revenue and reopening services both locally and regionally and is now fully focused on its transition to control by its envisaged majority shareholder, Takatso Consortium, which will take a 51% stake in SAA later in the year,” SAA said in a statement on Thursday evening.
In its statement SAA quoted its Lead Independent Non-Executive director, Ms Bembe Zwane says, “Thomas took the job of CEO as leader of a cohort of a Transition Management Team.He was generous enough to offer his professional services under a short term contract which we have eagerly extended on numerous occasions. Thomas has requested that his contract not be renewed. We appreciate the time he has given to SAA and look forward to the leadership of the executive team by John Lamola, read the statement.”
SAA rolled out Lamola’s credentials. He was appointed as non-executive chair of the SAA Board in July last year.
He was the CEO of Denel Aviation between 1996 and 2001 and also served on the ACSA Board for five years until 2017.
SAA also said that Lamola has managed a proprietary portfolio of private equity investments through a number of privately held companies, including an aviation consulting firm, Baji Aviation Service.