In a damning judgment yesterday, former SAA chair Dudu Myeni was declared a delinquent director for life in terms of the Companies Act.

Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Judge Ronel Tolmay, however, offered her a lifeline – she can apply in three years from the date of the order to have the declaration of delinquency to be suspended, but she would have to demonstrate that she has ‘sufficiently remedied and rehabilitated her misconduct’.

A Fin24 report notes the application was brought by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and the SAA Pilots Association (Saapa).

The judge found Myeni's evidence posed serious difficulties in her defence, saying her versions changed and she could not answer crucial parts of the evidence. She did not deem it fit to attend certain parts of the court proceedings, offering ‘unconvincing’ excuses, the judgment added.

Furthermore, her pleading poverty was found by the judge to be ‘distasteful as a professional woman who served and still serves as a director of several companies’.

On the contrary, Tolmay described her as ‘one of the privileged few’.

During the proceedings Myeni did not deny evidence that she earned over R4.3m in director's remuneration during her time at SAA and an additional R3.45m as director of the Mhlathuze Water Board.

The judge found Myeni had caused the demise of a lucrative deal SAA was negotiating with Emirates, which could have saved SAA or at least strengthened its financial position. It was estimated that the Emirates deal could bring about R1.5bn a year for SAA and it would have enabled SAA to cancel its loss-making route to Abu Dhabi.

Testimony was led on how Myeni insisted on attending operational meetings – a highly unusual practice for a non-executive chair.

The Fin24 report notes that SAA executives testified that, at one point, she even said former President Jacob Zuma had instructed her not to sign the deal.

As for an Airbus swap deal, even though it was approved by Treasury, Myeni started directly dealing with Airbus and wanted to appoint a ‘transaction adviser’ and use a certain local leasing company and financiers.

In court she could not explain why her actions were not grossly negligent.

‘She knowingly took SAA and the country to the brink of disaster by delaying the conclusion of the Airbus swap deal... and she displayed complete disregard for public funds,’ the judge said.

Tolmay added that, to serve on the board of a state-owned airline should not be ‘a privilege of the politically connected’.

‘Government has, as custodian of the common good, the obligation to ensure the suitably qualified people with integrity is appointed to these positions,’ she said.

‘SAA received billions in government guarantees – not only the court but also government should hold board members of SOEs accountable when they fail to execute their duties.’

Full Fin24 report

Judgment