Top official to lay bare Myeni’s tender rot at SAA
FORMER National Treasury head of procurement Solly Tshitangano is one of the high-profile witnesses expected to testify against former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni on to her alleged involvement in procurement irregularities during her six-year tenure at the helm of the national airline.
Tshitangano is expected to testify to give impetus to the application brought by Outa and the SAA Pilots Association (Saapa) in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, in Pretoria to declare Myeni a delinquent director.
On Friday, Outa and Saapa called their first witness, former SAA chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout, to testify after lengthy delays in October for the trial to start.
The two parties filed papers in February 2017 in the high court in Pretoria asking it to declare Myeni a delinquent director, alleging that she was responsible for plunging the national airline into financial chaos.
Both parties accused Myeni and former president Jacob Zuma of scuppering a deal between SAA and Emirates, the largest airline in the world.
According to their papers, SAA was due to profit about R1.5 billion annually for its daily international routes between Joburg and Dubai in 2015.
Bezuidenhout is giving testimony on Myeni and Zuma’s alleged intervention in the failed deal. Advocate Carol Steinberg, counsel for Outa and Saapa, said Tshitangano and former SAA group treasurer Cynthia Stimpel are among the key witnesses against Myeni.
Tshitangano was one of the main witnesses at the Nugent Commission tasked to investigate maladministration and governance at Sars during the tenure of sacked Tom Moyane as national commissioner. Steinberg was the evidence leader at the Nugent Commission.
At the commission Tshitangano revealed how a R200 million tender was awarded to Bain Consulting Agency, without following proper tender procedures to conduct a failed turnaround strategy.
The commission heard that the Bain strategy led to the increase of illicit flow of money; an increase in cigarette syndicates; as well as organised crime. Bain has since repaid Sars the R200m, following Tshitangano’s testimony.
In the Myeni trial, Tshitangano is expected to testify about the alleged fraudulent appointment of companies to do business with the national airliner.
One of the pleas to declare Myeni a delinquent was formulated following a forensic report by Ernest and Young, which flagged irregularities in the appointment of certain companies by SAA .
The report recommended to the board to act against those companies, but Myeni allegedly reneged on it. Now, Tshitangano is expected to give details on how procurement policies were flouted in favour of these companies doing business with SAA.
Stimpel is expected to testify about a R15bn debt-restructuring loan agreement with BnP Capital.
Stimpel blew the whistle on the contract to the National Treasury and then public protector advocate Thuli Madonsela, saying BnP did not have a financial service provider licence when it was given the contract.
She also informed Outa, which lodged an urgent court application to stop SAA from paying a cancellation fee of R49.9m to BnP.
In June, Stimpel testified about her ordeal and sacking from SAA at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture. Stimpel testified about how she was served with a suspension letter for allegedly failing to use internal measures to report wrongdoing at SAA. She is expected to testify about the role of a top South African bank executive who was roped in as one of the directors of BnP Capital.
Outa and Saapa also plan to call top executives of international airlines to testify against Myeni in their bid to have her declared a delinquent director for life.