F E AT U R E P R O F I L E
W
henever the name Sizakele
Pertunia Mzimela comes up,
the next words that come
to mind are ‘South African
Airways’. We can easily label
her the comeback kid, or rather woman, as she
keeps surprising us and exceeding expectation
in whatever she does.
In my quest to acquaint myself with the lady in
question, my initial research revealed her to be
first and foremost a mother and a wife, which
says a lot about her values and principles. Her
profile precedes her and it is no wonder that
many esteemed and established people value
and respect her.
The South African Airways partnership with
Emirates, Israel airlines and Ghana airways are
some of her achievements. By the end of the
year 2000 she had become regional manager
for Africa and the Middle East. During her reign,
Sizakele became instrumental in the success of
the airline in those regions. The next obvious
step for her was to become the executive vice
president of global passenger services, which
happened back in 2001. From then onwards
she took over global sales and the voyager
portfolio as well as heading up the direct sales
channels.
Siza (as she is affectionately known) started her
career at Standard Bank in 1991, working in
the small business and retail division. She went
on to join Total in 1994 as a corporate planning
analyst, managing capital projects. Finally,
she made her way to South African Airways
in 1996 as a research analyst, analysing route
and passenger forecasts. Her outstanding work
ethic saw her being promoted to manager for
market development where she soon became a
senior manager in that department.
IMBO/ ISSUE 32/ '14
48
DURING HER REIGN,
SIZAKELE BECAME
I N S T R U M E N TA L I N
THE SUCCESS OF THE
AIRLINE IN THOSE
REGIONS