Myeni maintains she has adequate experience as chairperson during delinquency case

Former South African Airways (SAA) board chairperson Dudu Myeni is back in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday to challenge a case in which Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa) seeks to have her declared a delinquent director.

The organisation is joined by the SAA Pilots Association, who have brought charges against the former chairperson.

During her testimony, Myeni denied collapsing the Emirates deal and claimed she was being used as a scapegoat.

Myeni maintains she has served on many boards before and claimed she knew what was required in the role of a non-executive director.

“A board needs to ensure that there is policy.”

She told the court about how SAA had to seek government guarantees.

The case continues in court.

Last Wednesday, National Treasury chief director Avril Halstead testified in the high court on how she had to navigate through financial turmoil while at SAA.

She spoke on government guarantees that were issued to SAA. These government guarantees were a safety net for SAA as government had assured to cover SAA’s debt.

“If SAA is unable to pay, the government is required to make the payment on SAA’s behalf. SAA was technically insolvent” in 2014, Halstead told the court.

Myeni is in court after numerous delays which included her attempt to have Outa removed from the case, arguing that its involvement constituted overreach for a civil society organisation, as Outa was not directly affected by events at SAA.

The court, however, ruled that Outa had a right to legally challenge Myeni as an organisation serving the interests of taxpayers, as the case meets the requirement of public interest and was in the interests of justice.

She earlier lost two separate applications at the high court, one which sought to add other directors to a civil case which saw her accused of being a “delinquent director”, and the other which saw her try to change her admission in the case.

Myeni’s lawyers had argued that 28 other SAA directors should face the charges alongside Myeni as they acted as a “collective”. They also said she should be given the opportunity to amend her plea, which they said was made on the basis of bad legal advice given to her previously.

It was argued that these lawyers didn’t follow Myeni’s instructions or clearly explain the legal implications of the plea to her.

Judge Ronel Tolmay dismissed both applications.

Of the attempt to add more directors to the case, Tolmay said while the directors could be called as witnesses, the relief sought was for Myeni alone to be declared delinquent.

Of the attempt to change her admissions, Tolmay said she did not adequately explain why she wanted to change them, adding that she felt it was “inconceivable” that Myeni did not know what she was admitting to in her plea, as she had the necessary experience as a businesswoman to do so.

She said it was clear Myeni’s former lawyers did indeed consult with her over the plea.

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