President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday expressed confidence in the newly-appointed board of South African Airways (SAA), under the leadership of Dudu Myeni, to effect a turnaround at the cash-strapped State-owned airline.

“The appointment of the board, including the chair, is for the interests of the country, nothing more,” Zuma said in a pithy reply when asked by a DA MP in a National Council of Provinces question-and-answer session whether he was advancing the interests of his “friend” Myeni over that of the country.

Zuma went on to explain that the fact that SAA’s losses went from R5.6-billion in 2014/15 to R1.5-billion in 2015/16 was good news.

“The fact that we could see . . . an improvement, I am certain sitting here that SAA is going to do effective work, particularly with the talents of board members. It is going to work and we are looking at it very closely. We are more hands-on as government than before,” said Zuma.

“We made it to be under the Treasury, specifically that it should be looked at from the eye of a hawk . . . so I’m confident that we are going to turn it around very quickly.”