SAA board members ‘boycott’ meeting over beef with Myeni

NONE of SAA’s 11 board members was present at parliament’s finance committee yesterday because they refused to appear alongside the “disruptive” chairwoman‚ Dudu Myeni‚ who had failed to attend successive board meetings‚ EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu claimed in an interview after the meeting.

Shivambu said he had it on good authority from more than one board member that they had decided to boycott the meeting because of their unhappiness with Myeni.

“We have it on good authority from board members that they do not want to be associated with Dudu Myeni because she is continuing with the same antics she was doing before this new board was appointed‚” he said.

“I have this information [about the boycott] as absolute fact.”

DA finance spokesman David Maynier and deputy Alf Lees also believed there was a boycott.

If true‚ this would indicate a serious breakdown in the relationship between the recently appointed board of the ailing airline and its chairwoman, who has never before appeared at a committee meeting without some board members.

The board members’ absence prompted committee members to decide not to continue with SAA’s briefing on its quarterly performance and strategic plan.

Committee chairman Yunus Carrim said it was now the norm to have at least two other board members apart from the chair and/or deputy chair present.

He said he had come under pressure over the past week to postpone the meeting with SAA.

ANC committee member Thandi Tobias emphasised that the entire leadership of SAA had to take responsibility for the airline at this crucial time.

“If the full board is not here we should not entertain discussions. We want to engage the board‚ not one member of the board‚” she said.

Another committee member‚ Dikeledi Mahlungu‚ said the absence of board members raised suspicions and questions as to whether there was something wrong with the board.

Carrim rejected the airline’s presentation on its strategic plan and quarterly performance as a pathetic‚ flimsy document unworthy of consideration.