Appointments like these must never be repeated

One of the shocking revelations coming out of the commission of inquiry into state capture is the poor quality of individuals who were appointed to the boards of crucial state-owned companies. In addition to the jaw-dropping evidence of corruption that has come before the commission, what has also become clear is that many of the people who sat on these boards should not have been appointed in the first place.

Take for instance former SAA Technical chair and board member Yakhe Kwinana. Kwinana is an accomplished professional. A chartered accountant by profession, she is expected to distinguish right from wrong at a heartbeat. However, her testimony told the opposite. She could not accept that it was problematic for her to accept favours — such as an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago — from a company that was bidding for a tender. Her friend, former SAA chair Dudu Myeni, made a mockery of the commission when she refused to answer questions about her shenanigans at the airline, choosing to make political statements to project herself as some kind of victim. Last month, former Transnet board chair Mafika Mkwanazi made concessions to deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo about decisions he and his board had taken, leaving questions about his suitability for the position. The list is endless.

Now the taxpayer has to pay for the mess left behind by these deployed cadres. The cash-strapped government had to fork out R10bn to bail out SAA, yet again, because individuals appointed there did not serve the interests of the public. Theywere only interested in lining their own pockets and those of the people who appointed them.

As Kwinana has shown us, technical qualifications should not be the only yardstick used to pick people to serve on these boards. But we must insist on men and women who uphold high moral and ethical principles. Change must start from the top. We need a government that does not regard these state-owned companies as a source of patronage — and an opportunity to enrich friends and family members. There must be transparency in the selection process for the public to scrutinise the calibre of people earmarked to run public institutions. If we are not vigilant and allow the status quo to continue, we might end up with another version of Myeni in a public entity.