SAA will soon start the process of appointing a new Chief Executive to take over the reins of the embattled national airline.

Spokesperson for SAA, Tlali Tlali, told Tourism Update that following the announcement last week that Monwabisi Kalawe had resigned with immediate effect, the position of the chief executive was vacant and would be filled in accordance with SAA’s recruitment and selection policy.

The suspended ceo decided to accept a payout of nearly R2.7m to resign from his position at the national carrier. Kalawe, who was appointed in June 2013, was suspended at the end of October 2014 by SAA Board Chairperson, Dudu Myeni. The exact reasons for the suspension remain unclear, but included allegations of ‘serious misconduct’ relating to non-compliance.

Kalawe launched an urgent application to the Labour Court at the beginning of April to have his suspension lifted. He later withdrew his application and during the arbitration process, it was decided that “the employment relationship between Kalawe and SAA had irretrievably broken down and that he would not seek to continue employment at the national carrier”.

Whether current acting CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout, will apply for the post at the helm of SAA remains unclear. Tlali said: “Once the post has been advertised publicly, it will be open to all interested parties to apply. Bezuidenhout remains the acting SAA CEO until further notice. He will make a personal decision on whether or not to apply for the position.”