Cape Town - SAA's new CEO came under fire on Tuesday for failing to appear before parliament's portfolio committee on public enterprises to answer to allegations of price collusion between airlines ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Siza Mzimela sent a South African Airways (SAA) inhouse lawyer, Louisa Zondo, to a meeting with the committee after submitting documents to members in which the airline claimed it cannot discuss the issue as it is the subject of a probe by the Competition Commission.

Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mario Ambrosini dismissed this as a ruse.

He told fellow committee members the sub judice principle did not apply to investigations and was furthermore ruled "unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2007.

Ambrosini rejected Zondo's statement that Mzimela failed to appear before the committee because she had other commitments, saying she had sent a lawyer to argue the sub judice principle to stonewall questions.

Committee chairperson Vytjie Mentor agreed with Ambrosini that SAA could not hide behind the sub judice rule and recalled Mzimela to appear before the committee next Tuesday.

She said the collusion allegations were "of great concern to parliament".

Mentor told MPs that she had received media queries from the BBC on the matter, but declined to respond before SAA had had a chance to put its side to the committee.

The Competition Commission late last year began investigating SAA, BA/Comair, 1Time, Mango, SA Airlink and SA Express after concerns were voiced over ticket prices being manipulated to maximise profits from the world's biggest soccer tournament.

SAA has asked the commission for leniency should it decide to refer the dossier to the Competition Tribunal.

- Sapa