Johannesburg –South African Airways (SAA) and its subsidiaries, the South African Airways Technical SOC Limited (SAAT) and South African Express (Pty) Ltd (SA Express) took centre stage in the State Capture Part 1 report released today by Justice Raymond Zondo.
The report took a dim view of the leadership of Dudu Myeni and Yakhe Kwinana of the airline during their tenure at the entity.
“The investigation revealed that there was a steady decline in the quality and effectiveness of the governance of SAA from 2012 onwards. This poor quality and ineffectiveness developed over the period that Ms Duduzile Myeni was the Chairperson of SAA and her co-Board member, Ms Yakhe Kwinana, was Chairperson of SAAT. During both their tenures, acts of corruption and fraud took place at SAA and SAAT. Committed managers, who tried to stand up to the increasingly unreasonable and unlawful demands of these board members, were slowly but surely removed from their positions,” reads the report.
Kwinana famously drew the ire of Zondo when she testified and made examples of fat cakes and the likes. Testimony was led before Zondo which showed Kwianana received gifts and money from bidders while at the helm of SAAT. Myeni was appointed as a non-executive director of SAA in 2009. She was then appointed as acting chairperson of the Board during December 2012, and as the chairperson of the Board during January 2015. She was re-appointed as chairperson during September 2016 and served as such until November 2017. Her tenure at SAA was intimated by allegations of corruption and mismanagement. However, no charges have been preferred against her to date. In 2020 South Gauteng high court declared Myeni a delinquent director for life, arising from an application by OUTA and the SAA Pilots’ Association (SAAPA).
Zondo also found that Myeni was appointed chairperson of the board of SAA in circumstances where she was an underperforming board member.
“She proceeded, through a mixture of negligence, incompetence and deliberate corrupt intent, to dismantle governance procedures at SAA, create a climate of fear and intimidation and make a series of operational choices at SAA that saw it decline into a shambolic state. From the time of her appointment as Chair, many people within SAA and officials in government, attempted to speak out against Ms Myeni and to stop her from wreaking havoc at the SOE. However, all attempts to criticize or remove her were met with resistance at the highest level,” reads the report.
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Also read: Thuli Madonsela on State Capture Inquiry
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