Civil society organisation Right2Justice (R2J) has vowed to defend former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni against political attacks waged against her by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse.
Outa has been pushing for Myeni to be sequestrated over the hundreds of millions of rand she allegedly cost the national airline.
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage has accused her of being a delinquent director, responsible for the destruction of SAA following the State Capture Commission report’s damning findings against her.
“Much of this was known for several years now. The fact that she got away with this for so long is an example of how accountability has failed society at every level of government, while friends of ex-president (Jacob) Zuma benefited handsomely for their various roles played in the looting,“ Duvenage said in a recent statement.
This is despite the commission having found no evidence that Myeni received kickbacks or funds illegally from the SAA coffers.
R2J said Myeni and other black executives were being singled out for persecution without there being concrete evidence against them.
In a statement, its deputy chairperson, Lonwabo Mtyando, said the recent attacks on Myeni, the former Jacob Zuma Foundation chair, was an example of a sinister agenda against her.
“The recent attack on the former SAA chairperson by Outa is an example of desperate politicking and violation of the rights and families of black executives. While Outa has had Myeni declared a delinquent director, they are now moving to sequestrate her. Their move will be met with the response they deserve. We will go to court to oppose the … move and we will process every necessary vehicle to defend Dudu Myeni,” Mtyando said.
Outa said that in the State Capture Commission report, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo described in detail how Myeni was complicit in the airline’s demise.
“He notes that Myeni went from being an underperforming member of the previous board to acting chair and later, the chair of the SAA board of directors. She proceeded, through a mixture of negligence, incompetence and deliberate corrupt intent, to dismantle governance procedures at SAA, create a climate of fear and intimidation and make a series of operational choices at SAA that saw it decline into a shambolic state,” said Duvenage.
Speaking to The Star on Monday, Mtyando said it was yet another smear campaign aimed at tainting Myeni’s image.
He said the likes of Gwede Mantashe, Nomvula Mokonyane and Thabang Makwetla, who were fingered in the Zondo Commission for having benefited from Bosasa, were being protected and not persecuted because they seemed to be on the right side of the country’s “captured justice and political system”.
“To think that the current elite would fight their political battles using the justice system against their predecessors is very concerning,” Mtyando said.
In 2019, Myeni lost her bid to remove Outa from her delinquency case.
She had argued that Outa had no lawful jurisdiction to apply for her to be declared a delinquent director.
Outa brought the delinquency case against Myeni and argued that the damage she had caused as chair of SAA board should warrant her being declared a delinquent director.
Myeni is accused of having rammed through BNP Capital to raise capital, and that had resulted in SAA losing R49.9 million. The amount was paid as a deal-cancellation fee later.