Ex-SAA chief takes dismissal to CCMA
FORMER South African Airways (SAA) chief financial officer Phumeza Nhantsi yesterday took her fight to hold on to her job to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), charging that her dismissal was unfair.
Nhantsi, who was fired last month after an internal disciplinary inquiry chaired by Nazeer Cassim, SC, yesterday lodged an application with the CCMA, claiming that the airline axed her on the strength of “unfounded allegations”.
“As an employer, SAA was required to carry out an investigation and find sufficient proof of misconduct before taking disciplinary action,” Nhantsi said. “Simply put, SAA was required to prove that I was guilty of misconduct and not depend solely on speculation or unfounded allegations.”
Nhantsi was fired along with former acting chief executive Musa Zwane last month for alleged gross financial misconduct, negligence and dishonesty.
Their dismissal followed their respective roles in a tender with financial services provider BNP Capital to source R15 billion in debt consolidation in return for a R256 million fee. SAA engaged BNP Capital in 2016 after inviting proposals for long-term funding to banking and non-banking financial institutions for the R15bn. That was in response to the airline’s cash and liquidity problems.
Nhantsi denied that she was responsible for any acts which violated company policies. She said she submitted factors in mitigation of the allegations prior to the dismissal being imposed. She claimed that Cassim ignored evidence that she never engaged in any conduct that violated SAA corporate governance policies. “I always faithfully complied with my fiduciary duties,” she said
Zwane and Nhantsi were also accused of motivating for the payment of a “cancellation fee” of approximately R50m to BNP Capital in July 2016. In his
Nhantsi claims the airline axed her on the strength of ‘unfounded allegations’.
finding, Cassim said that there was no legal basis for paying the money to BNP Capital. “This is a clear sham and (Zwane and Nhantsi) knowingly participated in a scheme or course to procure payment from the employer for a third party in respect of which the third party is not entitled to payment,” he said.
SAA accused Zwane and Nhantsi of, among others, failing to report corrupt practices on the part of BNP Capital to the Directorate for Serious Economic Offences. But Cassim did not make a finding on that charge, saying reporting criminal conduct to the authorities would have achieved little.
In a scathing finding, dated June 19, Cassim recommended the summary dismissal of Nhantsi and Zwane. He said Nhantsi was guilty of gross misconduct, saying she acted recklessly without applying her own mind.
He said the deviation from tender processes was startling, given BNP Capital’s low profile. He said Nhantsi and Zwane facilitated the transaction for self-interest. “(The transaction) has all the hallmarks of a plot to attempt to enrich those in control of SAA at the expense of SAA and the taxpayer,” he said.
He said SAA entered into a contract with BNP Capital without conducting an investigation on the reputation, competence, reliability and honesty of BNP Capital, an entity that did not have a Financial Services Board (FSB) licence.
But Nhantsi said SAA had failed to prove the accusations of misconduct and the airline rushed to judgment without proving the alleged misconduct had occurred and that she was responsible and blameworthy.