Newly appointed SAA CEO Siza Mzimela has had a turbulent start to her tenure, raising the ire of MPs even before formally taking office.
On Tuesday, SAA and Mzimela's old employer and SAA subsidiary, SA Express, were supposed to appear before parliament's portfolio committee on public enterprises to answer questions on alleged collusion on air ticket prices ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
The airlines were represented by their legal executives, which the MPs thought wasn't good enough.
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It is unclear why Mzimela did not appear before the committee in her current position.
SAA spokesman Vimla Maistry says the committee may not have been aware that Mzimela is only due to take up her position at the beginning of April. The airlines have now been called to appear next Tuesday.
After expressing "extreme disappointment" at Mzimela's "lack of respect for parliament", Democratic Alliance MP Manie van Dyk nonetheless reiterated his party's support for her appointment, noting her extensive experience in the industry and at SAA.
Mzimela has long been touted as a future CEO of the airline. She joined SAA in 1996 as an analyst. By 2002, she was vice-president for global passenger services and a year later had taken charge of the airline's loyalty programme, Voyager. But it is in her position as head of SA Express, SAA's domestic and regional subsidiary, that Mzimela made her mark. Under her guidance since 2003, SA Express has become the fastest-growing regional airline in Southern Africa, with a comprehensive domestic route portfolio out of Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as an airline, Congo Express, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2008, SA Express showed earnings growth of 13,8% to R466m and profit of R235,4m.
She now moves from an airline with R1,4bn in assets to one with about R16,3bn. One of her priorities is to restore the airline's reputation following a series of fines by competition authorities. SAA has been stabilised by an acting CEO, Chris Smyth, who saw through the implementation of a turnaround strategy devised by Khaya Ngqula, the CEO who departed under a cloud of investigation into the award of key contracts.
Mzimela (44) began her career at Standard Bank in 1991, followed by a two-year stint at Total, where she worked as a capital projects manager. She is an economics and statistics graduate from the University of Swaziland and is married with two children.
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