Who is JB Magwaza, the new SAA chairperson?

A new South African Airways board was appointed on Thursday, which resulted in Dudu Myenu being fired from the airline’s board and replaced with Johannes Bekhumuzi Magwaza.

So, who exactly is JB Magwaza, anyway? Here are a few things you may need to know about the newly appointed SAA chairperson.

1. He founded an investment company

Magwaza is the founder and executive chairperson of Nkunzi Investment Holdings Ltd, a private equity firm. The firm is based in Durban, but has an office in Sandton.

Nkunzi specialises in “mature, leveraged management buyouts, and leveraged management buy-ins” in medium-to-large companies. It also invests in companies with a revenue of more than R100 million.

2. He is an experienced corporate executive

Magwaza has served on the boards of numerous national and international numerous companies since the 1990s.

The 75-year-old businessman served as the chair for Mutual & Federal Insurance Holdings Ltd for six years, as well as for Pamodzi Investment Holdings and Motseng Investment Holdings.

He was an independent nonexecutive director at RCL Foods Ltd, KAP Industrial Holdings Ltd for 10 years, Ithala Development Bank and Nedbank Group Ltd.

In addition, he is a former Tongaat Hulett personal director and served as the company’s independent nonexecutive chairman from April 2009 until July 2014.

3. He has a BA and MA degree

JB Magwaza completed a management development programme at Unisa before receiving a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and social anthropology from the University of Zululand in 1966.

He went on to further his education and obtained a Master of Arts degree in industrial relations from the University of Warwick in England in 1985.

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