Former South African Airways (SAA) board chairperson, Dudu Myeni, will be back in the dock in the High Court in Pretoria on Friday as she battles to clear her name.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and the SAA Pilots’ Association want the court to declare a delinquent director for allegedly plunging the airline into a financial crisis.
They accuse Myeni of collapsing the airline by refusing among others, to sign the memorandum of understanding which would have yielded over R1 billion profit guarantee for SAA.
On Thursday, Myeni said there was a highly experienced review committee working on the memorandum and she and the board couldn’t just sign hastily, despite the pressure from Emirates.
“I don’t accept the allegation, it is baseless and it is not true. I’ve read on media, I’ve heard this allegation, it is incorrect and I’m glad I’m before the court to state the facts about the Emirates deal. I’ve seen that is has even been priced, it’s got billions of rands,” says Myeni.
Meanwhile, the battle against job cuts at SAA has been dealt another blow. The Labour Court in Johannesburg on Thursday dismissed an urgent application for leave to appeal by trade unions the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca).
The court rejected the first application to obtain an order to block SAA and its business rescue practitioners from retrenching workers earlier this month.
The unions approached the court after SAA announced the cancellation some domestic and international routes.
Video: Dudu Myeni testifies in court
