The Presidency on Thursday said that the government was in the process of “finalising” the appointment of a new SAA board.

In a statement responding to queries about the role of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in turning around loss-making parastatals, Ronnie Mamoepa of the Presidency said: “The government is in a process of finalising the appointment of a new board of directors as part of efforts of ensure good corporate governance”.

A 90-day action plan was successfully implemented and a new turn-around strategy developed and adopted by Cabinet in June 2015, said the Presidency.

He said the task of the new board will be to stabilise executive management by recruiting skilled professionals to implement the turn-around which has to be endorsed by cabinet.

Mamoepa said the formula to helping SAA change its fortunes was similar to that government has used at Eskom: strengthening the board, which in turn recruits and stabilises executive management.

In Eskom’s case, government interventions have had a direct impact in the stabilisation of electricity supply while mitigating the effects of load shedding.

Eskom has managed to keep the lights on for more than a 100 days. Earlier in the year, the national power supplier had to rely on regular load shedding to keep pressure off the grid.

Mamoepa said in the case of the South African Post Office, government interventions had led to the appointment of a competent chief executive with a clear mandate to revitalise the Post Office by stabilising labour relations and expanding service offerings of the organisation in order to regain the trust of clients and members of the public.

“Government remains confident that interventions currently underway would in the long term lead to the sustainability of these institutions with good corporate governance structures in place and a leadership committed to the advancement of the country’s goals as set out in the National Development Plan,” said Mamoepa.

Government’s interventions in these state-owned enterprises takes place within the context of the announcement made by President Jacob Zuma that Ramaphosa would oversee the turnaround of SAA, SAPO and Eskom.

“We therefore urge all South Africans to give all SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) a chance to re-engineer their operations, sharpen their focus in a considered and responsible manner,” said Mamoepa.

“We should respect the demarcation of roles and responsibilities especially when it comes to operational decisions which are delegated to boards and executive management.”

Mamoepa, however, said the deputy president cannot be involved in operational matters at SAA or any other SOE.