Kwinana risks permanent expulsion as CA
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) has brought state capture-related charges against controversial former SA Airways director Yakhe Kwinana, over conduct that is alleged to have thrust the airline into a tailspin.
The Sunday Times has learnt that chartered accountant Kwinana, the director and founder of Kwinana & Associates, was hit with 14 charges related to her conduct as a non-executive director at the national carrier, as well as her testimony at the Zondo commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture.
If found guilty at the disciplinary hearing, for which a date has yet to be set, she faces anything from a caution to a R500,000 fine, suspension, or permanent expulsion, Saica CEO Freeman Nomvalo said.
“Saica confirms that a charge sheet was communicated to Ms Kwinana at the end of March 2022. As there is a significant amount of preparation before a matter may be set down for hearing before the Saica disciplinary committee, Saica is unable to provide a precise date for a hearing. The date will be communicated on the Saica website in due course,” he said.
Kwinana and her lawyer this week confirmed receiving the charges, and have accused Saica of having already made a determination of her guilt, and of cutting and pasting extracts from the Zondo commission’s report on the airline.
The airline, which was plucked from the brink of liquidation as a result of years of looting and mismanagement, is being taken over in an equity deal with a private sector consortium that will buy 51% of it.
In his state-capture report, chief justice Raymond Zondo found that Kwinana and board colleague Dudu Myeni, who both served as SAA directors from 2009, were at the centre of the mismanagement.
Kwinana’s 53-page charge sheet, seen by the Sunday Times, says she conducted herself in a manner that is “discreditable, dishonourable, dishonest, irregular or unworthy or which is derogatory to the institute or tends to bring the profession of accountancy into disrepute”. It says she breached provisions of the Saica code of professional conduct relating to integrity, objectivity, competence and due care, and/or conducted herself in a manner that was grossly negligent.
This relates to her conduct on the board of SAA as well as her role as chair of SAA Technical (Saat), where dodgy contracts were awarded and paid out.
These include:
● The controversial ground handling contract that was awarded to Swissport in 2012, with R1.139bn paid to the company without any contract;
● The sale of Ground Power Units from SAA to Swissport via JM Aviation, from which Kwinana allegedly benefited to the tune of R4.3m;
● The unlawful termination of an R85m catering contract awarded to German company LSG Skychefs; and
● Kwinana ordering that former chief procurement officer at SAA Masimba Dahwa award 15% of Swissport’s baggage-handling contracts to a group of local companies without any procurement process, and her subsequent threats when he refused.
Kwinana has also been charged in relation to her allegedly contradicting herself at the commission when she claimed to not know that Myeni manufactured whistle-blower reports against SAA executives who did not follow instructions.
This week, Kwinana, speaking through her attorney, Lindelwa Mbanjwa, said she was taken aback by the sudden charges because the institute’s own bylaws require that it first give her an opportunity to explain herself.
She said the allegations pertaining to Kwinana’s alleged conduct at SAA had already been investigated by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, which had found no wrongdoing.
“In the circumstances the institute is barred from prosecuting afresh in terms of its own bylaws,” Mbanjwa said, adding that the decision also violated Kwinana’s constitutional right to a fair trial.
Besides Saica’s charges, Kwinana could also be the subject of a criminal probe as recommended by Zondo in his report on allegations of state capture and corruption.
In January, the Sunday Times reported that sources inside the National Prosecuting Authority were saying that little progress had been made in the case involving Kwinana and Myeni.