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In the original ruling, the court found that Myeni did not significantly challenge the evidence against he.i (Photo by Gallo Images / Rapport / Deon Raath)
- In May this year, the court declared Myeni a director in arrears for life under the Public Limited Companies Act.
- The request was submitted by the Organization Undo Fiscal Abuse and the SAA Pilots Association.
- The court has dismissed Myeni’s requests for permission to appeal the delinquency order.
Former South African Airways president Dudu Myeni was hit triple by the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday in applications related to the case in which she was found to be a delinquent director.
One of the orders given is that he must immediately resign from all management positions he holds.
In May this year, the same court declared Myeni a director in arrears for life under the terms of the Corporations Law. Myeni was appointed a non-executive director of SAA in September 2009, became interim president in December 2012, and president from September 2016 to 2017. However, you can apply in three years from the date of the order to that the delinquency declaration be suspended. if you can show that you have “sufficiently repaired and rehabilitated your misconduct.”
The request was submitted by the Organization Undo Fiscal Abuse (OUTA) and the SAA Pilots Association (SAAPA). The court found, among other things, that Myeni caused the demise of a lucrative deal that SAA was negotiating with Emirates and meddled in the airline’s dealings with Airbus. Myeni indicated that he earned more than R4.3 million in director compensation during his time at SAA.
On Tuesday, the court dismissed Myeni’s request for permission to appeal against the delinquency order and his request to allow more evidence in the case. The court also granted OUTA’s request for immediate enforcement of the delinquency order against her, pending the completion of all the appeal processes that are still available to her.
According to OUTA, the management positions Myeni still holds are understood to include the Centlec power company of the Mangaung Metro and the Jacob Zuma Foundation.
OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage says the latest blow will be another three defeats for Myeni, in addition to four more sentences against him in interlocutory matters and the main case that were resolved earlier this year. In addition, he lost his applications with costs orders against him.
She herself is to blame
“She is only to blame and must realize that her conduct in chairing the board at SAA was misplaced and resulted in a significant negative impact on the performance of the airline,” says Duvenage.
Myeni wanted permission to present the evidence provided by former SAA board member Yakhe Kwinana at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into the state capture. Myeni claims that if it weren’t for Kwinana meeting with OUTA beforehand, she (Kwinana) would have joined her in her case against Myeni as well. In commission, Kwinana denied OUTA’s claims he made to them about Myeni and her son’s dealings. Myeni argued that her own trial might have had a different outcome had Kwinana’s evidence been heard. She claims that OUTA’s conduct was illegal. OUTA denies having reached an agreement with Kwinana.
In the latest ruling, Judge Ronel Tolmay says she accepts that the relevant evidence was only available on November 7 this year, but Myeni could have called Kwinana as a witness during the trial, as she mentioned her (Kwinana’s) role. during your test. However, Kwinana was not called to testify.
“There are no special circumstances under which testing should be allowed. It has nothing to do with the question of whether Myeni should have been declared a delinquent director or not,” the judge ruled. “The evidence is not solid, material and even if it had been believed, it would not have had any impact on the outcome of the trial.”
In the latest ruling, Tolmay noted that “it is trivial that the dispute is resolved and that the parties have the right to finality” and that Myeni still has all the resources of the appeal process at his disposal. The judge further determined that, “apart from the attack on the court, not a single example was given [by Myeni] of any error of law or of any factual error based on the transcription. ”
The ruling states that Myeni made the conscious decision to present her case the way she did and chose not to be present for most of the trial.
“It is unfathomable how bias, real or perceived, can be raised as a ground for appeal, given the evidence in this matter,” says the judge. “There is no reasonable possibility that another court will reach a different conclusion on the evidence presented in this trial and that an appeals court will reach a different conclusion, nor is there any compelling reason why authorization to appeal should be granted.”
Immediate implementation
By accepting OUTA’s request that the crime order against Myeni be immediately enforced, the judge determined that the evidence conducted pointed to Myeni’s disregard for following basic principles of corporate governance and his utter disregard for the impact. that his actions had in SAA and in the broader economy.
In the original judgment, the court found that Myeni did not significantly contest the evidence against him and that he was not a reliable witness. For this reason, in the last sentence, the judge agreed with OUTA that the public interest demands that there be quick and effective reparations when mismanagement and mismanagement are disclosed.
“At this stage, Myeni remains a director of Centlec, a public company, which is therefore subject to the same legal obligations as the SAA. Myeni has demonstrated its inability to fulfill these obligations and, as a result, could result in a irreparable damage to another public company if she should be allowed to continue in her position as director until all appeal procedures have been exhausted, ”states the latest ruling.
Myeni argued that there had been no complaint about her actions at Centlec, but Tolmay ruled that that is not the point, because she showed that she was unfit to act as a director. The judge is of the opinion that the public will suffer irreparable harm if the court order declaring Myeni a delinquent director is not implemented until all the appeals processes that remain available to her are completed.
Myeni’s legal counsel has indicated that he intends to continue his appeal efforts. However, the judge found that her prospects for success on appeal are weak and this contributes to the conclusion that the implementation of the delinquency order should not be suspended.
