Management instability continues unabated at South African Airways (SAA) where the human resources GM Thuli Mpshe has now been appointed to run the airline on a temporary basis and a dispute rages over the validity of the renewed contract of CFO Wolf Meyer‚ Business Day reported.

There are two other executive vacancies at group level: head of strategy and CEO of catering division Airchefs‚ which has an acting leader. In addition the airline has a skeleton board of only four nonexecutive directors.

Mpshe’s appointment comes as much as a surprise as the sudden departure of previous acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout last week. While the SAA board is required to inform the shareholder – the Treasury – when it appoints an acting CEO‚ this has not been done.

Questions to SAA about Mpshe’s suitability for the position in light of her skills set and SAA’s intractable financial and strategic difficulties were not answered on Monday. However‚ SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed her appointment.