Former SAA chief set to rebut allegations by Outa and pilots

FORMER SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni looks set to testify in the legal battle with Outa and SAA Pilots Association who have lodged a court bid in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to declare her a delinquent director.

In October last year, Myeni failed to show up in court for her first court hearing when the matter was set for trial, citing financial problems. The court set a trial date in her absence.

Yesterday, however, Myeni’s legal counsel, Nqabayethu Buthelezi, confirmed Myeni will take the stand in her defence. He said Myeni will testify that she did not have the powers to block or authorise the former national airline acting chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout from signing the R1.5 billion deal with Emirates in June 2015.

Myeni will also vehemently deny claims that she told Bezuidenhout that the instruction to him not to sign the deal came from former president Jacob Zuma. Yesterday Buthelezi confirmed that his client was due to take the stand to rebut all the allegations made against her by Outa and the SAA Pilots Association. The two parties filed papers in March 2017 asking the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to declare Myeni a delinquent director.

Buthelezi said Myeni was going to deny Bezuident’s version that she mentioned Zuma’s name in the telephone conversation she had with him a few hours before the deal was due to be signed in Paris. He said Myeni would confirm that she sent a WhatsApp message to Bezuidenhout saying “We did not Approve” but said she will testify she was making reference to her and the SAA board and not Zuma.

Bezuidenhout told the court the WhatsApp message which landed on his cellphone seven hours later, made him believe that Myeni was referring to Zuma. “Ms Myeni will testify there is no truth the former president had issued an instruction to Bezuidenhout not to sign. Ms Myeni will also testify that when she sent a message to him, she was doing so on behalf of the board,” Buthelezi said.