‘SSA protected Myeni unlawfully’
Zondo probe hears evidence that ex-airline boss intimidated SAA board members
Mlotshwa said.
Deetlefs denied having tortured Aggett and instead claimed they had built a good relationship during the time he interrogated him for six hours, adding that this resulted in him getting Aggett to confess on his activities and expose his comrades, something he previously refused to do in the three months of his detention.
Mlotshwa grilled Deetlefs on how he was able to make Aggett make the confession within six hours of his interrogation without assaulting him on January 30, 1982.
“You see, (Aggett’s chief interrogator) Lieutenant Steve Whitehead had Aggett for some three months and he was not achieving any success and you say you achieved in six hours what he could not achieve in three months. So he was under pressure to get results. He hatched a plan and used the Saturday evening when no one is in the office and brought you,” Mlotshwa said.
He said the NPA was planning to push for him to be charged for his possible role in Aggett’s death and for torturing Hogan. “I can tell you that the NPA is considering charging you, but most definitely you will be charged for torturing Barbara Hogan,” Mlotshwa said.
Former activists who were allegedly tortured by Deetlefs also accused him of “pathologically” lying during his evidence. Concluding his testimony, Deetlefs denied the accusations, adding that while he had been lying about his hand in assaults on activists, he had no reason to continue doing so.
“I am not a healthy person and I have repented. I would feel very guilty if I can lie now,” he said.
Aggett is one of 89 political detainees who died under questionable circumstances before 1994.
THE State Security Agency (SSA)’s protection of the controversial former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni came under scrutiny at the Zondo commission.The inquiry yesterday wrapped up testimony from an SSA witness referred to only as Mr Y, in an effort to protect his identity and his role at the SSA.
The inquiry heard evidence that Myeni used SSA agents to intimidate SAA board members and executives by confiscating laptops and cellphones during meetings.
On Wednesday, the commission heard that when Thulani Dhlomo was appointed in 2012 as the head of the SSA’s Directorate of Special Operations, he changed the unit’s mandate.
The unit ran parallel to former president Jacob Zuma’s protection services.
Mr Y explained that one of the consequences of this change led to several people, who could be seen as Zuma’s supporters, being granted security services protection by the SSA.
BALDWIN NDABA
FORMER SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni has defended her decision not to grant the then senior executives of SAA permission to sign the R1.5 billion SAA/Emirates deal in Paris in June 2015.
Myeni is opposing an application by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and SAA Pilots Association (Saapa) in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to declare her a delinquent director.
The two parties had claimed in court papers that Myeni was responsible for plunging the national airline into financial chaos.
In her explanation, Myeni told the court that she did not want to give away SAA’s market share and thus she needed more explanation from former SAA senior executives about
One such individual was Myeni. Myeni, who has been largely seen as a controversial figure, chaired the SAA board and had previously held several positions in state-owned enterprises. She has a close relationship with Zuma and also chairs his Jacob Zuma Foundation.
Mr Y explained there was no evidence of any paperwork being submitted which motivated or justified for Myeni’s high-level protection.”We have found no paperwork of a request or instruction from within the agency. We first got sight of this from the high-level review report when we found that a group of agents were allocated to specific people, including Miss Myeni and other political figures, who could be seen as supporters of former president Jacob Zuma and would not be eligible for official protection from SAPS,” Mr Y explained.
The commission heard how Myeni had been assigned security detail of SSA’s agents.
A “Mr Moonsamy”, who heads up security at SAA, said Myeni had breached SAA’s security policy when the possible risks in the deal.
She said Emirates was the only international airline which operated internationally and domestically in South Africa and that had severely affected the market share of SAA.
Myeni said that had prompted her to write an email to various SAA executives, she brought her own security staff. The SSA agents that protected Myeni had also refused to sign in when entering SAA premises.
Mr Y said under normal processes at the SSA, agents would not have had issues if they were requested to sign in.
Mr Y was shown a photo of one of the SSA agents who protected Myeni and he identified the individual as Zama Ntsolo – a member of special operations. In a meeting that took place in July 2015, it was found that including former acting chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout, to find out whether the new deal meant that Emirates was going to be given more flying routes in South Africa.
“At the time of the supposed signing of the deal in Paris in June 2015, none of the SAA executives had replied to my email,” Myeni said.
She said that had prompted her to phone Bezuidenhout, asking him not to sign the deal because the board had not taken such a decision.
Myeni also denied claims that she had told Bezuidenhout that the decision not to sign came from former president Jacob Zuma.
According to her, her board had several concerns about the deal, saying Emirates was a foreign airline which enjoyed more flying frequency in South Africa. Myeni said Emirates’ frequent flights had affected SAA markets and the board wanted Emirates flights
Myeni had instructed her security to confiscate cellphones and laptops of board members who would be in attendance.
There was also an incident with the then chief financial officer, Wolfgang Meyer, who had his pen confiscated by the agents at Myeni’s request. She had suspected that the pen was a recording device.
Mr Y said this action by the SSA agents was out of protocol as the agency had no such mandate.
“No, within the SSA we would have our security protocols in which (people) would lock up their cellphones in some instances, but we do not have the executive powers to confiscate the equipment of board members and executives,” he explained.
Mr Moonsamy had also explained to the commission that it was not part of SAA group policy to confiscate cellphones and laptops belonging to executives and board members.
The commission will now shift its focus on investigating the auditor general’s auditing protocols conducted at SAA.
“I can tell you that the NPA is considering charging you Jabulani Mlotshwa NPA
to be curtailed.She also stood firm that she had been wrongly accused of being responsible for the failed multibillion lease agreement between SAA and Airbus.
Yesterday, Myeni issued a strong denial, saying the financial troubles of SAA had begun in 1998 when Coleman Andrews, an aviation expert, was appointed to turn it around.
The court heard that Andrews had sold all 60 SAA aircraft and later leased them back to SAA. She said that since the early 2000s, SAA did not have a single aircraft which belonged to it.
Myeni was responding to claims that the Airbus deal had failed because the former board chairperson had insisted on the appointment of an African aircraft leasing company in September 2015.
Outa and Saapa legal counsel Carol Steinberg is expected to cross-examine Myeni today.