SAA saga takes the (fat) cake

For the past two years, the lethal combination of arrogance and incompetence that has for so long been a hallmark of the upper echelons of power in South Africa has been on display for all to see at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

But this week took the (fat) cake.

It started with SA Airways (SAA) Technical former chair Yakhe Kwinana – also a one-time member of the SAA board – taking the stand.

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Kwinana’s ducking and diving reached the height of inelegance when she was asked by evidence leader advocate Kate Hofmeyr about a multimillion-rand catering tender that had originally been awarded to Lufthansa owned Sky Chefs, before it was cancelled and re-awarded to SAA subsidiary Air Chefs.

She proffered her response in the form of a bizarre analogy involving her daughter’s “fat cakes”: “If my daughter is selling fat cakes here at home, why would I go and buy fat cakes next door?

“And then if I decided to go and buy fat cakes next door, as a parent am I not supposed to tell the child that I don’t like your fat cakes, this is how you should do the fat cakes then please correct here and there and so on?”

Her chicanery pushed even Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo – a man whose patience has, up until now, seemed infinite – over the edge.

“You are not doing justice to yourself. You are a professional, you are a chartered accountant. Clients out there trust that you can do your work as a chartered accountant.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve…tried, in order to be fair to you, to say: Please just answer the questions that are being asked,” he erupted at one point.

“You keep on wanting to tell me something I did not ask. It’s not going to be good for you as a witness. So I’m asking you again, please just listen to questions. Try and answer the questions. If you don’t know, say: ‘I don’t know.’”

It was going to take a special kind of ineptitude to top Kwinana’s performance on the stand.

Cue Dudu Myeni. On Wednesday, it was the former chair of the SAA board’s turn in the hot seat. And she did not disappoint.

Following a series of technical glitches, Myeni – who opted to make her appearance before the commission via a video link, saying she had been exposed to someone who had tested positive for Covid-19 and was self-isolating – kicked off her testimony by trying to invoke her “right to silence” and refusing to answer any questions around SAA for fear she may incriminate herself.

At least taxpayers aren’t footing the fees for her legal advice anymore.

Myeni is not on trial and as such does not enjoy a right to silence. What she does enjoy is the privilege against self-incrimination.

That does not give her carte blanche to refuse to answer questions put to her but, regardless, her repeated refrain on the stand has been: “May I not answer, chairperson, in case I incriminate myself.”

It would be funny – if it wasn’t so tragic.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced massive budget cuts for crucial government departments like education, health and justice to help fund yet another bailout – R10.5 billion – for SAA to get the state carrier back on its feet after years of high-level looting and corruption.

This means less money for schooling, healthcare and security – not for the privileged few who can afford these but for the poor who are entirely dependent on the state.

The state capture has come at a very real, very human cost. And there is nothing funny about that.

Bernadette Wicks.

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