Vusi Pikoli says docket implicates former SAA directors in corruption
SAA, which appointed former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Vusi Pikoli its chief of risk in February, says that there are two dockets into corruption matters that are ready for a prosecutorial decision, one of which implicates former directors of the airline in corruption.
Another three cases have been registered as dockets by the Hawks and a further four are still at the status of inquiries. SAA is also set to make a disclosure to the Zondo commission.
The NPA is yet to successfully prosecute anyone for “state capture”, which refers broadly to the period of the Jacob Zuma administration between 2009 and 2018, during which grand scale looting of state-owned enterprises took place.
SAA, which for much of this period was chaired by a close friend of Zuma’s, Dudu Myeni, was mired in corruption, forensic reports commissioned by the board have found.
Appearing before parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises on Wednesday, Pikoli said that he made sure that all matters coming out of SAA were centralised by the Hawks. “These were lying all over the place. So in our discussion with the Hawks we said all those matters should be attended to centrally so we could get a broader picture of what has been happening at SAA.
“We are following the same strategy when it comes to the prosecution of these matters by the NPA so that we have a clear picture of the organised crime syndicates that were operating in SAA.”
The inquiries flow from nine forensic investigations commissioned by the board over the past two years.
“In terms of forensic investigations that have been conducted at SAA and the matters that are before the Zondo commission, we have referred some of the matters that implicate former board members in SAA. One of those matters is actually a decision docket, which means that already it is receiving the attention of the NPA,” he said.
Lifestyle audits of staff to monitor unexplained wealth and to build a culture of ethics had also begun and SAA was building civil action cases to retrieve money lost in corruption.
“We have forged a closer relationship with the Hawks and the NPA with a view of the NPA looking at all nine. We are making progress but the capacity of the Hawks and the NPA [has] eroded. We are also preparing a submission to the Zondo commission,” he said.
SAA has also asked the Special Investigating Unit to review 84 contracts which are considered high risk. These, along with other matters, have been included in an application for a presidential proclamation, as the unit has the power to stop the contracts and reclaim money, Pikoli said.
SAA has also made progress in reducing staff costs, with acting CEO Zuks Ramasia reporting to the committee that with several aircraft transferred to Mango, SAA had been left with an excess of 122 pilots and 294 cabin staff. All of the excess pilots had either taken early retirement or accepted contracts with other airlines and 68 cabin staff had taken early retirement.
On the financial side, SAA remains distressed with interim chief CFO Deon Fredericks telling MPs that recovery “will be a challenging journey”.
SAA had been advised by the Treasury that it would receive a R3.5bn bailout at the end of September out of the contingency reserve. The sum will be used to repay short-term financing obtained in February and overdue for repayment.
The company also faces a bigger hurdle at the end of the month when R9.2bn of debt falls due for repayment. Fredericks said that the lenders a consortium of banks would roll over monthly until a long-term solution was agreed on.