“I never had a voice, I still don’t have a voice,” Dudu Myeni, who served as SAA chairperson from 2013 to 2017, testified on Thursday.

Myeni was testifying at the North Gauteng High Court as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and SAA Pilots Association (Saapa) are trying to have her declared a delinquent director.

Despite weeks of evidence about her alleged intransigent leadership and disregard for the cash-strapped airline’s financial health, she portrayed herself as an emblem of good corporate governance.

“In general, I was amongst people that in their hearts it was difficult to be led by a woman,” said Myeni, suggesting the airline’s male (many white) leaders were likely to doubt her regardless of her prowess at the helm of the national carrier.

“I applied my mind. I exercised duty, care and skill. That is the responsibility of every board member. That is why today I’m an expert in governance,” she said in reference to a deal she’s accused of sabotaging that could have earned SAA billions.

Her comments, while being led by her legal counsel, advocate Nqabayethu Buthelezi, stood in stark contrast to the evidence Outa and Saapa have led against her.

The court has heard how she obstructed a deal with Emirates that would have earned the airline at least $100-million a year and intervened in a negotiation with Airbus that could have saved SAA at least $106-million. She allegedly tanked both deals at the last minute, leaving the state-owned enterprises’ executives frustrated and bewildered after months of work.

Myeni also allegedly ordered SAA leaders to fire and discipline employees whom she disagreed with, which would go beyond her powers as chairperson of the board.

Wolfgang Meyer, who was SAA’s chief financial officer while Myeni was chairperson, described her leadership to the court:

“She displayed a total lack of independence. She would interfere in operational matters. She would engage directly with suppliers, she would blatantly lie to the minister and to the board. She would unilaterally try and change and misrepresent board meetings.”

Myeni on Thursday said it was an “unfair allegation” that she tried to target those at SAA she disagreed with, although the court has heard evidence that she instructed senior officials to get rid of anyone that stood in her way.

Myeni has also been accused of confiscating recording devices from those she met with, which she denied on Thursday, but added that board members were required to leave their phones outside meetings after repeated leaks to the press.

Meyer testified that Myeni confiscated a recorder he brought to a meeting after his relationship soured with the chairperson. Former acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said Myeni confiscated his e-cigarette, thinking it was a recording device.

While Myeni’s character and leadership style has been heavily questioned, much of the case against her relates to the deals SAA negotiated with Emirates and Airbus in 2015, which were aimed at improving the airline’s balance sheet. SAA went into business rescue in December 2019.

The Emirates agreement would have guaranteed the airline more than R1-billion in additional revenue annually, but on the eve of a public signing event, Myeni told Bezuidenhout not to sign it. According to Bezuidenhout, Myeni said it was on the instruction of former president Jacob Zuma. Myeni is reported to have a close relationship with Zuma and chairs his personal foundation.

She denied that she was appointed to SAA’s board on Zuma’s recommendation or that she had consulted or taken instructions from the former president on the airline’s issues.

Myeni also defended herself against allegations she bombed a lease-sharing agreement with Airbus. SAA leaders had negotiated a deal to save the company billions and replace an outdated and unaffordable aircraft purchase arrangement from 2002 for a lease agreement that would have saved the airline costs it couldn’t afford and delivered more efficient planes.

While SAA executives and Airbus were ready to sign the deal, Myeni wrote to Airbus to say the airline wanted to introduce a local financier into the lease agreement.

On Thursday, she said introducing a local company into the deal could have helped mitigate against costly currency fluctuations and would have improved SAA’s finances and made it less reliant on government bailouts.

“It would be irresponsible for us not to look at day-to-day operations and also arriving at what comes at the end of the month we should be able to pay monthly obligations as and when they’re due,” she said.

Treasury, however, rejected the proposal, saying it would likely cost more than the original, already exorbitant, arrangement.

Myeni took no responsibility. She claimed she had acted judiciously and always in consultation with the SAA board.

“I never at any given time speak and act as though SAA is my business,” she said.

On Friday, Outa and Saapa will begin cross-examining Myeni. If she decides to pitch, after missing the previous weeks of hearings supposedly because she couldn’t afford to attend, her claims of fulfilling her fiduciary duties are likely to come under heavy scrutiny. DM