Many names of officers responsible for much of the corruption and maladministration at South African Airways (SAA) have not been revealed in the just-released Commission of Inquiry into State Capture report, the airline’s union said on Thursday.
The South African Cabin Crew Association spokesperson Zazi Nsibanyoni-Mugambi said the union believed that there were still many more people at the airline who are involved in alleged corruption through procurement of goods and services – but did not name them.
The report details how state resources were used to aid the state capture of state-owned enterprises such as the SAA under former president Jacob Zuma’s nine-year reign that ended in February 2018.
The multi-year state probe revealed there was a steady decline in the quality and effectiveness of the governance at SAA from 2012 onwards.
This was under the leadership of former Zuma appointee and board chairperson, Duduzile Myeni, and her co-board member, Yakhe Kwinana, who chaired the South African Airways Technical (SAAT) section, Nsibanyoni-Mugambi said.
The spokesperson said they had “opened cases against management of the airline over the years – and nothing came out of it.”
“We have lived and breathed through many years of the systematic decay of the South African Airways,” Nsibanyoni-Mugambi said.
She added: “And for us, as much as the report points to certain individuals, this report does not begin to peel through those layers that I’m speaking about.”
She noted that the corruption at SAA started well before Myeni’s time.
“For us, much more has happened at SAA to lead it to where it is today,” the spokesperson said.
The once world-class and award-winning airline has been placed in receivership and has retrenched thousands of its employees after its bankruptcy.
NM/jn/APA