Pretoria - The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday welcomed the High Court ruling declaring former South African Airways (SAA) board chairperson, Dudu Myeni, a delinquent director in terms of Section 162 of the Companies Act.
“During her turbulent tenure at the national carrier, Myeni proved that she was clearly unfit, incompetent, and wholly incapable of holding any directorship position. The DA has long held the view that Myeni played a major role in bringing SAA to its knees and to its subsequent bankruptcy,” said DA’s Alf Lees, a member of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
“Despite the myriad of allegations stacked against her, Myeni was given a soft exit from SAA without any consequences for the malfeasance that took place under her watch. We are therefore pleased that this court order will ensure that Myeni will never be deployed to any SOE [state-owned enterprise] or public business as a director by the ANC as a loyal cadre.”
The DA said it believed court judgment would ensure “some sort of accountability” for Myeni.
“We have noted that Judge Ronel Tomay has requested that the judgment and the evidence in this matter be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for their consideration and determination of whether an investigation regarding possible criminal conduct should follow,” said Lees.
“We urge the NPA to take up this matter urgently in order to ensure that Myeni finally has her day in court.”
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) on Wednesday also welcomed the declaration of Myeni as a delinquent director for life by a Gauteng high court.
Judgment was handed down on Wednesday in favour of Outa and the SAA Pilots' Association (SAAPA), with Judge Tolmay making the declaration, said Outa.
“We are extremely pleased to see justice meted out in a prominent matter related to state capture,” said Outa chief legal officer, Stefanie Fick.
“When we set out on this matter three years ago, we knew it would take time and would be very costly. But every minute and every rand spent was worth it. We believed then, as we do now, that it is important to hold people like Ms Myeni to account, as opposed to seeing them get away with acts of gross misconduct, year after year. Imagine what could have been done with the endless amounts of taxes lost in her tenure to alleviate poverty and advance democracy.”
Outa quoted from Tolmay's order, which said: “This declaration of delinquency is to subsist for the remainder of Ms Myeni’s lifetime.”
“This judgment and the evidence led is referred to the NPA for their consideration and determination of whether an investigation regarding possible criminal conduct should follow.”
Myeni was also ordered to pay Outa and SAAPA’s legal costs on an attorney and client scale, including the costs of three counsel.