Most former executives involved in South African Airways and SA Express will in light of the financial difficulties of the two companies not easily be given accolades for good performance. The decision to appoint the acting CEO of SA Express, Siza Mzimela as the new Chief Executive of Transnet Freight Rail has therefore raised a couple of eyebrows. The Democratic Alliance described the appointment as bizarre as Mzimela only had aviation experience and said it was another example of cadre deployment with ineffective executives hopping from one state owned enterprise to another. DA Member of Parliament, Ghaleb Cachalia said her track record at the SOE was dismal as SA Express now faces liquidation. But Mzimela has received backing for her latest Transnet appointment from none other than Bonang Mohale, the man described as a powerhouse and leadership guru behind the growth of many companies. Mohale told Biznews founder Alec Hogg that Mzimela had his backing. – Linda van Tilburg
Bonang Mohale, who used to be the chairman of Shell and the former chief executive of Business Leadership South Africa. Bonang, you issued an unusual statement on the 3rd of April giving huge support to Sizakele Mzimela as the new chief executive of Transnet Freight Rail. I’ve never seen this before. Somebody with such a high profile as you lending support to someone else in the business community. There must have been a very good reason for doing this and presumably that means people were criticising the appointment?
___STEADY_PAYWALL___
You’re absolutely correct and right up front. Ms Sizakele Mzimela’s competency – related to her duties, integrity, experience, qualification, her commitment to continuous professional development, her operational ability and soundness, and her standing in the business and broader community, renders her uniquely qualified. Impartiality and objectivity are character traits that she has consistently demonstrated in all interactions I’ve had with her. That’s why I supported her. Transnet ought to be congratulated on appointing her as head of its largest business unit, the Transnet Freight Rail. I have no hesitation in saying a better person could not have been found for this job.
But why is there so much criticism of her appointment?
I don’t know. People are just lazy to research where she has been. I personally worked with Mzimela. She was head-hunted from financial services. When I was the first South African executive vice president of South African Airways, I was impressed by her uprightness, abilities and capabilities – particularly her ability to understand and deal with complexities. Because of this, I had no hesitation in promoting her to successive senior management positions, both at SAA and South African Express Airways. I promoted her to GM at SAA, and when South Africa Express Airways needed a CEO, we head-hunted her from SAA and she did an excellent job. South Africa Express Airway was profitable, it was resilient. I am proud to say we worked together, on many things – in developing the independent, and commercial agreements. Rather than just going with one World or Star Alliance, we chose to independently link each and every single service where we were flying. It allowed us to fly the public to 700 destinations. We also did the complex hub strategy that profitably linked OR Tambo airport with the airport in Accra Ghana, Nairobi in Kenya and Lagos in Nigeria – a fundamental groundbreaking project which is still in place today.
She excelled in everything. She was responsible and was then promoted to look after the current South Africa Express Airways after it was looted. She left a profitable and resilient company. She then left the airline for a while and she excelled so much in the private sector that we brought her back to SAA as a CEO. She ran the airline effectively and efficiently after years of looting. It is no secret that she was fired from at the height of such a project because she refused to buckle under pressure from the then President Jacob Zuma to award the lucrative Dubai route to the Gupta. Ms Sizakele Mzimela is the epitome of ethical leadership in South Africa. There can be no doubt that South African Express – where she was interim CEO – would have been much better because of her commitment, acumen and integrity.
So Bonang basically what you’re saying is that she excelled. Then she left. Then she came back. But the SA Express was so far gone, there was nobody who was going to be able to do a Lazarus act on it.
Any criticism of her inability to head Transnet Freight Rail is therefore unwarranted. It is completely disingenuous. Her combination of experience in the private sector, entrepreneurship and her experience in state owned enterprises and companies, is unchallenged and only an ill-informed or malicious person would say she does not have the requisite skills and experience to run Transnet Freight Rail business unit that forms the backbone of South African economy.
Are you expecting the results she will show in running a Transnet Freight, that she is not only up to the job, but she’ll excel there as well?
Absolutely. Transnet is the backbone of our infrastructure. Moving goods efficiently is essential to this economy for its next phase of industrialisation. She has the experience, adequate leadership in general and logistics in particular. Critics who think airlines are about only flying passengers, rather than complex supply chain management, moving people and food etc. completely misunderstood the field.
If you are a leader who profoundly understands probity and stewardship, duty of care, skills and diligence, you’re qualified to run any business.
David Shapiro, you’ve obviously heard the comments and the gossiping about Mzimela. What’s your thought?
He’s very eloquent, and he is endorsing her and I can’t argue. I know very little about her achievements, but Bonang knows better than we do. He is right – this is the backbone of infrastructure. If we’re mining stuff and can’t get it to the harbours, we can’t get it to market, we have no economy. It is an incredibly important segment of the economy. The gossip here is something which we have always had to handle in South Africa. It’s so politically motivated and not business motivated. One thing about Bonang is, he’s been in business, he knows business and you know I’m going along with his endorsement.
He’s also the chairman of Bidvest. Thanks for joining us and I’m sure Sizakele Mzimela is more than happy to have your endorsement. Let’s see her get Transnet Freight going again and let’s see those big trucks coming off the road. I suppose that would be one of the first indications that she’s doing her job right.
I’m humbled beyond words and thank you for having me.
He’s just one of a kind, isn’t he David?
And you can’t argue against him and he’s got the background he’s got her CV. If she is that kind of a person, it’s a good appointment and we need it. We need it in all aspects of state-owned enterprises. We need those kinds of people.
