Cabinet on Wednesday approved the retention of South African Airways (SAA) chairperson Duduzile Myeni and nonexecutive director Yakhe Kwinana, while also approving the appointment of Dr John Tambi and Anthony Dixon as board members at the troubled national carrier.

On Thursday, the SAA board held two special general meetings; the first to consider and adopt the resignations of six previous board members and the second to formally appoint Tambi and Dixon.

The board shake-up followed from Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s announcement in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement that there would be no further bail-outs of ailing State-owned companies (SoCs) until governance had been improved and sustainable turnaround plans provided.

Nene also indicated that government would only support SoCs through a deficit-neutral funding strategy, which meant the capital would need to be raised through the disposal of noncore government assets and/or possible private-sector participation.

The changes to the SAA board were expected, having been flagged by Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown earlier in the week and given that four nonexecutive directors had already indicated that they would be stepping down.

Brown said in a statement that it was well known that SAA had been a loss-making airline for the past few years and that her intervention was aimed at stabilising the situation.

Dixon is a chartered accountant, with “extensive experience in corporate affairs, auditing and accounting”. Brown said he was expected to assist the board to achieve the turnaround strategy, while also addressing the challenges of poor corporate governance at the airline.

Tambi, meanwhile, had “extensive experience in project management, planning, engineering with specialisation in the transport sector”. He too was expected to assist the board to achieve the desired outcomes of the turnaround strategy, as well as the “consolidation of the airline’s assets”.