SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS FACES MAJOR CHALLENGES AND SACKS CEO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 000473 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EEB/TRA/OTP DEPT FOR EEB/TRA/AN/TERRI ROBL ROME FOR ANTHONY GIOVANNIELLO DAKAR FOR MO KEANE FAA FOR NANCY ANGELO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ELAB ECON SF SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS FACES MAJOR CHALLENGES AND SACKS CEO REF: A. 09 PRETORIA 329 ¶B. 08 PRETORIA 2754 ¶C. 09 PRETORIA 333 ¶D. 08 PRETORIA 937 ¶1. This cable is based on collaboration between Embassy Pretoria and Consulate Johannesburg. ¶2. (U) Summary. State-controlled South African Airways (SAA) reached an agreement to terminate CEO Khaya Ngqula's contract following charges of mismanagement and corruption. SAA continues to face financial, labor, and security challenges that hamper its ability to restructure and pursue route expansion plans. South African Government (SAG) officials have announced that the government would be unwilling to provide additional government support beyond the $156 million promised by the Treasury in the 2009 budget speech. SAG officials believe route expansions into Africa still represent the biggest growth opportunity for SAA, but expressed fears that the current global economic downturn would continue to hamper liberalization of the African aviation market. Temporarily-appointed SAA Acting CEO Chris Smyth will have to work with government and labor stakeholders to ensure that the airline is able to address these challenges and redeem the airline's international reputation in the run-up to the World Cup. End Summary. -------------- CEO DISMISSED FOLLOWING LABOR ALLEGATIONS OF MISMANAGEMENT AND CORRUPTION -------------- ¶3. (U) State-controlled SAA announced the voluntary termination of CEO Khaya Nqqula's contract following charges of mismanagement and corruption on March 11 (Reftel A). SAA Chairman Jakes Gerwel did not announce the size of Ngqula's settlement. The media reported that based on Ngqula's current salary and the August 2010 expiration of his current contract, he could receive a severance package worth approximately $800,000 based on his current salary and taking into account that his contract was due to run until the end of August ¶2010. Ngqula was brought in to fix the ailing airline and return it to profitability, something SAA has yet to accomplish. SAA launched a restructuring plan in March 2007. The plan delivered a $12 million "profit" for fiscal year 2008, but excluded "restructuring costs" of $111 million. ¶4. (U) Ngqula was placed on "special leave" last month pending an investigation into allegations highlighted by South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU). Reports that first broke in the press detailed that Ngqula's wife, Mbali Gasi, benefited from a R3.5 billion ($350 million) catering contract. French-based Servair emerged as the preferred bidder allegedly because of Gasi's financial ties to the consortium. Ngqula has been involved in a number of other controversies since taking the helm of SAA. According to press reports, he would fly to meetings within the Gauteng province in a hired helicopter. ¶5. (U) The labor unions feel vindicated by the decision as they believe their actions brought Ngqula's conflict of interest to light and helped lead to his his dismissal. SATAWU also provided the SAG with a long list of other concerns about Ngqula's approach to the SAA restructuring program, which included potential outsourcing plans and layoffs that angered SATAWU. SATAWU has been upset about bonuses and salary increases awarded to top-level management at a time when the airline was in the red. More than 2,000 employees were retrenched during this period and others agreed Q2,000 employees were retrenched during this period and others agreed to voluntary pay-cuts to improve the airlines financial standing. SAA announced that the investigation into mismanagement would continue until all of the allegations raised were addressed. -------------- SAA CONTINUES TO FACE MAJOR CHALLENGES AND SEEKS ADDITIONAL GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS -------------- ¶6. (U) SAA continues to face major financial challenges that will hamper its ability to restructure and pursue route expansion plans. Fears have emerged of an impending technical insolvency as the airline celebrated 75 years of operations in February. SAA Chief Financial Officer Kaushik Patel announced that despite the airline having received a total injection or more than $1.1 billion in taxpayers' bailouts for its restructuring plan, SAA remains undercapitalized and is now in a debt trap. SAA has a 110 percent debt-to-turnover ratio, one of the highest in the world (compared to PRETORIA 00000473 002 OF 003 67 percent for Cathay Pacific, 23 percent for Lufthansa, 47 percent for Qantas, 43 percent for British Airways, and 63 percent for Air Canada). ¶7. (U) SAA recently requested an additional R5.2 billion ($520 million) in capital from the SAG to deal with the accumulated liabilities for its frequent flyer program and to proceed with an Airbus contract to avoid being sued for an order cancellation. Airbus is demanding millions of dollars in pre-delivery payments for an order SAA claims it had cancelled in 2004. SAA will need additional aircraft to capitalize on the opportunities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and is considering purchasing new aircraft from Airbus for its expansion plans, partly to avoid penalties for the order cancellation. However, SAA's current financial standing hinders its ability to secure additional aircraft. -------------- SAG UNLIKELY TO SUPPORT ADDITIONAL BAILOUTS -------------- ¶8. (U) Department of Public Enterprise (DPE) Deputy Director General for Transport Dr. Andrew Shaw told an audience at the Africa Aviation Outlook Conference in Cape Town that the SAG would be unwilling to sink any additional funds into SAA beyond the R1.56 billion ($156 million) promised by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel in the 2009 budget speech. The SAG would rather consider guaranteeing a commercial loan to help the under-capitalized airline survive the current economic downturn. Shaw also told the February 18 Parliamentary Portfolio Committee that SAA's restructuring had failed in certain respects. He noted that SAA had not achieved its target of spinning-off the freight division, selecting equity partners for its frequent flyer program, or meeting revenue management targets. ¶9. (U) Shaw said SAA needed to increase its shareholder funds substantially to be at sustainable debt levels in alignment with its industry peers. However, in the current economic climate, interested investors were difficult to find, so recapitalizing of the airline remained a problem. ¶10. (U) Shaw said SAG must make SAA "survivable over the next year or two" and it needed to identify what it could do to make the airline less dependent on SAG funding. He emphasized that SAA could not be allowed to be dependent on bail-outs because the government had many other pressing priorities of national importance. Shaw said the recent restructuring of SAA would play a big role in setting it up for future health; however, it needed a more aggressive rescheduling strategy to deal with rapidly declining international passenger demand. -------------- AFRICAN MARKET COULD BE KEY TO GROWTH, BUT LIBERALIZATION HAS BEEN SLOW -------------- ¶11. U) Shaw believed Africa still represented the biggest growth opportunity for SAA. SAA's ambitious route expansion plan unveiled in December 2008 features several new flights to destinations in West Africa. Currently, only 16 percent of SAA revenue is generated on African routes, while 60 percent is generated in the international market. The airline hopes to establish regional hubs in Dakar, Senegal and Johannesburg (Reftel B). However, Shaw noted that expansion into Africa was being hampered by the lack of airspace deregulation in Africa. ¶12. (U) Shaw said the SAG's policy on aviation liberalization had been to lead by example by deregulating its own airspace. Director Qbeen to lead by example by deregulating its own airspace. Director General of Transport Mpumi Mpofu has told post on several occasions that the 2010 FIFA World Cup has provided the impetus for South Africa to pursue unilateral and bilateral airlift strategies to expand existing routes in time for the June 2010 games (Reftel D). Mpofu said South Africa has been one of the most vocal supporters of the Yamoussoukro Declaration (African Union Open Skies agreement) through the African Union, but is frustrated by the slow progress with African Union deliberations and implementation. ¶13. (U) Shaw noted that the global economic downturn might affect African governments' willingness to liberalize the sector. He said "governments may open up their markets and some of their carriers will not survive." -------------- LABOR AND SECURITY PRETORIA 00000473 003 OF 003 CHALLENGES ALSO PERSIST -------------- ¶14. (U) In addition to its financial challenges, SAA has recently received negative media attention for continued SATAWU labor disputes. SATAWU announced a general strike on February 20, citing large retention bonuses for management and the use of labor brokers at SAA. SAA service has not been affected by the strike thus far, but labor unrest has risen and SAA has had to request police assistance to ensure the security of air and ground crew members not participating in the strike. SATAWU will take issue with any SAA restructuring plans that reduce staff numbers. ¶15. (U) The airline has also received negative international publicity recently for security lapses on its international flight to London. Two SAA crews were intercepted at London's Heathrow Airport for drug trafficking in January and February 2009 (Reftel C). SAA has created a task team to probe the drug busts and is examining the implementation additional of security measures to address the security breaches. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶16. (U) SATAWU's willingness to call for Ngqula's head had more to do with outrage over management bonuses in the face of worker lay-offs than it did with unhappiness about mismanagement or corruption. The fact is that SAA has been losing money for years and it has only recently begun to retrench employees. After the voluntary retrenchment of more than 2,000 employees, SAA still retains a workforce of more than 8,000 employees. Industry observers also report that many more workers will have to be retrenched before SAA returns to profitability. However, any further restructuring will be difficult because SATAWU takes an almost irrational view towards retrenchment and will fight any layoff plan to the bitter end. ¶17. (U) SAA's decision to terminate Ngqula's contract also comes at a time when the airline is facing major challenges and is preparing to take advantage of the expected increase in passenger traffic during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The corruption and mismanagement charges, drug busts, and labor strikes have hurt the airline's international reputation. SAA Acting CEO Chris Smyth will likely remain in the position until the April 22 general elections. Smyth will have to work with government and labor stakeholders to ensure that the airline is able to address these challenges in the run-up to the World Cup. LA LIME