Acting CEO Matshela Seshibe has his work cut out as he talks up good governance against a backdrop of shambles.
It's a little unsettling to refer to someone as an acting CEO when he was the one who had to answer to Parliament for what happened under his predecessor and now needs to start swinging the sword of justice for indiscretions. But this is what happened when Daily Maverick interviewed acting SAA group CEO Matshela Seshibe (you can watch it on the Daily Maverick YouTube channel).
Explaining why the board chose the leader of a catering subsidiary to run the entire national carrier, he was careful to reflect his full merits: "I was doing two roles... I was a member of ExCo at SAA, and at the same time I was running Air Chefs as its CEO."
It's this measuredness that makes Seshibe an interesting interview subject. Full credit must of course go to the team who did his media training, but there is also a fair bit of natural calm.
When he says support from the stakeholder - South African taxpayers via the government, alongside whatever lines of credit or funding the Treasury can get - is needed, "not to bail out the airline for financial and operating losses, but to drive the growth of the airline so that...
