Standoff at SAA as Brown battles to assert control
Chairwoman defies minister on CEO’s suspension
A SHOWDOWN is expected when SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeni meets Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown to discuss the continued suspension of the airline’s CEO, Monwabisi Kalawe.
The minister has insisted that the suspension be lifted, but a defiant Myeni wrote to Brown on Thursday giving her reasons why she would not reinstate Kalawe.
The spat between the two comes as more details emerged about the chairwoman’s academic record, which put into question her suitability for the job.
Records from the University of Zululand show that Myeni spent 10 years studying for a bachelors degree in administration, which she never completed. She registered for it in 1995 and gave up in 2005.
Instead of heeding her boss’s requests, Myeni appointed Nico Bezuidenhout, CEO of Mango, to act in Kalawe’s position.
On Friday she denied going against the minister.
“I will never defy the minister,” Myeni said. “I respect leadership.”
She said she had submitted a report to Brown detailing why Kalawe had been suspended and that the minister “concurs”.
Brown disputed Myeni’s claim, saying: “I have read the report and I will be meeting with the board in the next couple of days. I will then make my decision.”
The minister said she planned to put an end to the leadership squabbles at the airline.
“SAA is a strategic airline. We can’t afford [going] backwards and forwards like this.”
Brown said she would consult her director-general and legal team before meeting Myeni.
Among the accusations Myeni made against Kalawe is that he negotiated to buy a stake in Senegal Airlines without informing the board; that he al- legedly refused to sign a performance contract; and concerns regarding fuel procurement irregularities.
Myeni will go to tomorrow’s meeting buoyed by the support she received from the parliamentary portfolio committee to which she made a presentation on Friday.
She told the committee that she was a victim of a media campaign aimed at discrediting her and the airline.
“I am taking a lot of bashing. The kitchen is hot, chairperson,” Myeni told the committee.
She said that, irrespective of the points she raised on the operations and the profitability of SAA, the media continued to vilify her.
Myeni said the removal of the six board members had been necessary because the board had been divided and the airline’s needs had changed.
“Sometimes, being a leader, one has to take difficult decisions in the best interest of the company and the best interest of South Africa and in the best interest of taxpayers,” the chairwoman said.
Myeni and her ally on the board, Yakhe Kwinana, survived when Brown removed the board members last month.
Parliamentary committee chairwoman Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba pledged her support for Myeni and appeared to back her on Kalawe’s removal.
“Put your foot down. People must learn to be accountable. Those who enter into reckless transactions which are not helping the SAA to pick up, we must really deal with them,” said Letsatsi-Duba.
Myeni was also showered with praise by ANC MP Zukile Luyenge and United Democratic Movement MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa.
They told her to ignore the media reports.
“I am still very emotional about this [media reports],” she told the MPs.
Myeni refused to be interviewed by the Sunday Times team when asked to respond to allegations contained in an article in the Mail & Guardian about her relationship with President Jacob Zuma.
“You’ve been writing bad things about me. Awungithandi wena [you don’t like me] Sibongakonke … you are my homeboy. I know where you come from. I know the street.”
She then demanded that the journalist switch off the recorder and the cellphone.
During the meeting with the committee, Myeni also stopped a Sunday Times photographer from taking photos of her, saying she was losing her concentration.