SAA's Dudu Myeni must go, says DA

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for the immediate removal of Dudu Myeni as chairperson of South African Airways. This follows South African Airways' (SAA's) decision to conclude the Airbus swap agreement as approved by former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in July 2015, ditching Myeni's plans to reconfigure the deal.

National Treasury's announcement that the agreement must be completed as directed by Nene "is very good news for South Africa, but very bad news for SAA chairperson Dudu Myneni," said the DA in a statement.

The SAA board conceded defeat to Treasury on Monday after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan directed it to conclude the Airbus deal in accordance with approval granted by Nene.

In this way, the transaction will see SAA swap the purchase of ten A320 aircraft for a lease of five A330-300 aircraft from Airbus. Following Nene's directive also means that SAA will no longer be required to pay additional pre-delivery payments to Airbus to the tune of about R603m.

READ: SAA Airbus swap deal goes Nene's way

"The deal approved by Gordhan tonight gives SAA the financial respite it so desperately needs and also alleviates the continued drain on the national fiscus that SAA has become," said the DA.

READ: Treasury’s full SAA statement

The DA applauded the fact that Gordhan "has stood up to Myeni’s political manouvering, and has sent Myeni crash landing to the hard ground of reality".

"The elephant in the room however remains, and Dudu Myeni’s politics is the elephant," said the DA. According to the party, the airline will not succeed in turning its fortunes around under Myeni.

Two different finance ministers both found her suggested swap to be "a dangerous choice for the airline and for South Africa’s fiscus, and under Myeni’s watch the airline has found itself financially depleted and begging for Treasury handouts", said the DA.

"Her close ties to President Zuma, and her political manouvering, and her design of fronting local companies for aircraft purchase agreements disqualify her from overseeing our national flag-carrier," said the DA.

The party demanded a full investigation into SAA's financial affairs. It said that those "who acted together with Myeni to hamper the turnaround of the airline must also be fired". 

The airline's turnaround should be overseen by an aviation expert and "not a political crony", said the DA.