As SAA limbers up for an equity partner there are increasing signs that morale and standards are slipping. Mungo Soggot and Max Gebhardt report
ZUKILE Nomvete grudgingly tells the story of how he was saved by rival Sun Air shortly after he assumed his Transnet post of executive director in charge of
South African Airlines (SAA). Twenty minutes before his SAA flight to Cape To
wn was due to take off, the check-in counter informed him it was too late – e ven if he was who he said he was. So he rushed to the Sun Air counter, which g raciously
put him on a flight that left five minutes later.
Nomvete, one of Transnet’s squad of R850 000-a-year executive directors, is no t flattering of the airline he has inherited. He concedes its management and s taff are sheltered and, at times, arrogant – particularly when considering whe ther they need the help of a foreign airline to run the business. This attitud e perhaps explains why it is rival Comair that now sports the British Airways logo in a partnership that has flustered the national carrier.
The government, it seems, is more realistic. Ketso Gordhan, director general o f transport, says: “The government task team that recommended the partial priv atisation of SAA in 1995 also recommended that capital, technology and managem ent skills be brought in. It is vital that the transformation of SAA, which ha s been very sheltered, be given external impetus.”
Many of Nomvete’s senior staff put the blame on him when explaining falling st andards, such as the increasing incidence of cabin crews failing to pitch up f or flights. They say his intervention in day-to-day management has been disrup tive and question his qualifications for the job. Nomvete’s track record in av iation has in fact included a stint as a flight engineer for Ethopian Airways, a post he
was later ironically rejected for at SAA.
He has an irrepressible enthusiasm for the airline industry. In the midst of d iscussing airlines’ aircraft buying habits he veers off into an exploration of America’s domestic market. “The United States domestic market is a beast of i
ts own. It behaves in its own particular fashion. It has its own momentum.”
Some staff members were unimpressed by Nomvete’s performace on a recent countr ywide tour with SAA boss Mike Myburgh during which the two executives sought t o lift the airline’s spirits with glossy presentations.
Nomvete admits morale at the airline is shaky – a situation exacerbated by ten sions between the old and new guard at a once closeted state enterprise that h as been exposed to significant competitive forces.
But the affable executive director, who is also in charge of Transnet’s sprawl ing property empire, is not entirely downbeat about the airline. Later on in t he conversation he says morale is slowly starting to pick up and talks excited ly about plans to relaunch the airline with a new image. And he insists much o f its troubles stem from the high cost of fuel and the weak rand.
Leon Els, the airline’s representative, adds a “lower passenger turnout” to th e list of “external factors” that has hit SAA.
Despite the dire state of SAA’s finances, Nomvete still finds time for a perso nal touch with SAA’s customers. The previous day he had flown to Guguletu, Cap e Town, to visit the little girl who was recently savaged by an SAA toilet.
Nomvete’s jocular approach to life is certainly a change from the dour style o f management to which SAA employees have become accustomed. On a recent trip t o London he apparently caused a stir – among first-class passengers and check- in staff alike – by joking that he had a couple of AK-47s in his luggage.
Nomvete, along with the rest of SAA’s front men, does not want to talk about i ts looming partial privatisation in any detail. He will say, however, that SBC Warburg should finish assessing how much SAA is actually worth in the next fe
w months. He says this will be crucial for the forthcoming sale. “We must look at the process of evaluation of SAA so we can then have an idea of a value of
the parti
cular entity.”
Asked to look 10 years down the runway and guess whether SAA, which has shed s everal international flights, will be an international or just an African carr ier, he says: “Scenario planning in the aviation field is a dicey one.” But he hints: “Our strength is not whether you can fly the intercontinental routes b
ut will depend on the strength of our domestic feeder network …”
Els, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions that tensions between old and new guard employees were materially affecting the running of the airline. He said SAA st arted an affirmative action programme six years ago that had filtered through to all its areas of operations. Asked why SAA was so concerned about the Comai r/BA deal, he said he was worried about the precedent this would set for other airlines.