OUTA’s legal representative advocate Carol Steinberg says former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni has failed to give proper explanations as to why she made certain admissions in her plea and why she now seeks to withdraw them.
Steinberg says Myeni’s request to make amendments to her plea should be denied as it amounts to tactical manoeuvring to delay the court in an effort to escape the truth.
The High Court in Pretoria is hearing arguments in the delinquency case brought by OUTA against Myeni.
Steinberg says the basis of Myeni’s request for amendments is dishonest.
“The first objection is that there’s no proper explanation to the proposed amendments. In other words Ms Myeni has failed to discharge her onus of proving that they were made in good faith.”
Myeni has accused her former lawyers at ENS Attorney of unethical behaviour. Myeni says she was not aware of the legal implications of making certain admissions and denials as recorded in her plea.
In her affidavit, Myeni says she relied on the competence and legal expertise of her former lawyers.
Myeni’s new lawyer Nqabayethu Buthelezi says the communication between Myeni’s former lawyers and OUTA’s lawyers about the impeachment of Myeni pleas, could be interpreted as collusion.
He read a statement from Myeni.
Listen to the statement below:
OUTA says there has been no illegal behaviour on the part of its lawyers in obtaining information about Myeni or in its interactions with Myeni’s former lawyers.
In 2017, OUTA and the SAA Pilots Association brought a case against Myeni to have her declared as a delinquent director. Legal Head at OUTA, Stefanie Fick says: “I think it was quite clear from the proceedings that there was no unethical behavior from our legal team and everything was above board.”
