New SAA Board cautiously welcomed but Miyeni reappointment draws fire

South Africa’s official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has announced that it is to legally challenge the reappointment of Dudu Myeni as chairperson of the South African Airways (SAA) board. “The DA is of the strong opinion that there is a prima facie case to be made that Myeni’s reappointment by Cabinet is wholly irrational, given her appalling performance as SAA board chairperson over the past four years – overseeing the airline’s steady decline,” said the party in its press release. Myeni is generally seen as being very close to President Jacob Zuma.

“Her reappointment not only reeks of [the] nepotism and cronyism so common under the Zuma administration, but it also flies in the face of the need for good governance at State-owned enterprises, especially SAA, which is in financial ruins – failing to make a profit for several years – and a whisker away from being liquidated,” affirmed the DA statement. “Our legal action thus seeks to have the reappointment of Ms Myeni set aside as being wholly irrational. We contend that Ms Myeni is an unfit and inappropriate appointment as she is incapable of steering the national carrier in the right direction.”

Earlier, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) cautiously welcomed the appointment of the new SAA board but expressed serious concern about the reappointment of Myeni as chairperson. “A number of significant and questionable actions combined with lossmaking performances have taken place under Myeni’s watch, which has cost the taxpayer several billion rands in bail-outs over recent years,” stated Outa in its press release.

“We believe Myeni should be held accountable and largely responsible for the poor governance and performance issues that have transpired at SAA over the past few years,” stated Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenhage. “It is a pity that government did not seize the opportunity to remove her from the board.”

In should be noted that Myeni has been reappointed chairperson for a period of one year. This point was clarified in a statement issued by the Government Communication and Information System.

“We believe that profitability is only possible with the appointment of suitably talented executive directors to achieve the professional and competitive outputs required of SAA,” said Duvenhage. “Sadly, the past board has succeeded in purging the airline of excellent senior managers and the current board will have to work hard to restore the public’s confidence in this brand.”

The organisation urged the new board to reappoint those senior managers who had been suspended by the previous board. Outa maintained that these managers had been “suspended for standing their ground against the questionable conduct of the previous board”. One of these suspended senior managers had recently been cleared of all the charges made against him and the organisation was confident that the other senior managers concerned would likewise be totally cleared.

The group also called on the new board to act to expose corruption and maladministration in SAA. “A thorough review of many contracts should be undertaken and note should be taken of the findings of the 2015 EY audit, which would go a long way to shining some light on this scourge within the airline,” asserted Outa legal affairs director Ivan Herselman. “The influencing of contract appointments which are not in the best interest of the airline is an extremely serious matter and those found guilty of such behaviour should be held accountable, with the necessary corrective action applied.”

The fact that SAA now has a new board will not halt Outa’s own investigations into “the serious transgressions and other management issues at SAA”. In addition to continuing its own enquiries, the organisation urged the new board to employ all its powers to eliminate corruption inside SAA.