Dudu Myeni ‘wasted millions’ meant for charity

South African Airways (SAA) board chairperson Dudu Myeni has reportedly irregularly donated millions of rands in cash meant for charity to other causes, including Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s wedding, according to a report.

City Press reported on Sunday that Myeni, in her capacity as chairperson of the Mhlathuze Water Board in Richards Bay, allegedly wasted hundreds of thousands of rands of the authority’s money on luxurious foreign trips to international water conferences that she had never attended.

The paper reports it is in possession of documents that reveal that the controversial SAA chair, who also runs the Jacob Zuma Foundation, used millions from the funds of Mhlathuze Water Board’s corporate social investment budget to bankroll, among other things, the funeral of a local African National Congress (ANC) leader and to sponsor a provincial women’s leadership conference.

Myeni is alleged to have instructed the now suspended CEO, Sibusisio Makhanya, to invoice the KwaZulu-Natal cooperative governance department for R1.4 million for building trading stalls in Nkandla, which the water authority apparently did not use.

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She also allegedly demanded a list of the water authority’s tender plans and upcoming contracts from Makhanya, information she is not entitled to according to cooperative governance principles.

Documents signed by Myeni, as well as emails between her and Makhanya, reportedly show how, in 2015, she improperly demanded to see the company’s procurement plan.

The plan included all tenders, their cost estimates and dates on which they would be advertised. Makhanya is understood to have refused to give her this.

Makhanya, who was then suspended in November 2015 on misconduct charges, has since approached the Pietermaritzburg High Court to challenge the validity of his suspension and the processes that were followed.