Madam Speaker, despite celebrating the three-year anniversary of his position, SA Airways chief executive emperor, Khaya Ngqula, has roundly failed to prove his suitability for his job.
SAA's momentary return to profitability after the hedging disaster of 2004 was due to operational gains achieved by Ngqula's disgraced predecessor and Transnet's financial engineering, and not because of Ngqula's skills. His numerous run-ins with staff and his personal extravagance aside, Ngqula has also fallen into the habit of spoon-feeding Parliament bad news in bite- sized pieces, only when he has pie-in-the-sky profit projections to sugar- coat it with.
Presumably to escape scrutiny, Ngqula announced that SAA is facing a R3 billion loss at the end of 2007-08, only on 8 November at a public press conference, instead of in Parliament. SAA has already received in excess of R2 billion of the R3 billion in recapitalisation funds that it was promised by government. In the light of this situation, the R1,7 billion in profit targeted for the end of the 2008-09 financial year is not credible at all. Ngqula is clearly engaging in a massive game of smoke-and-mirrors to ensure that his tenure at SAA is extended for as long as possible. If Minister Erwin allows it to continue, the joke will be on him. Thank you.