Outa vs Myeni: Former SAA chair wants delinquency order blocked

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) is back in court on Monday, 8 February 2021, this time to challenge a bid by former South African Airways (SAA) Chairperson Dudu Myeni to prevent the enforcement of her lifetime delinquency order.

In May 2020, the High Court in Pretoria declared Myeni a delinquent director and barred her for life from serving as a director at any entity.

Now Myeni is trying to block the interim enforcement of the order, arguing that there’s no need for one – as she’s no longer a director on any board at a state-owned entity (SOE). She has been considered a key figure in state capture, having been an ally of former president Jacob Zuma.

Outa: Dudu Myeni applying delaying tactics

Outa and the SAA Pilots’ Association (SAAPA) will be opposing Myeni’s application.

“This is the first time that Ms Myeni has faced any genuine accountability for her actions at SAA. Ms Myeni did everything in her power to obstruct this outcome and engaged in repeated conduct throughout the trial which was ‘calculated to cause maximum delay and disruption’,” says Advocate Carol Steinberg in her heads of argument.

“Ms Myeni is a failed litigant who seeks to further delay the operation of a binding order. She has not taken any proactive action to preserve her rights of appeal and has instead allowed these rights to lapse,” Steinberg further said.

She added that Myeni was still a director of at least three companies, including the Jacob Zuma Foundation, and would be able to take up positions on other boards unless the delinquency order is enforced, and that Myeni’s versions flip-flop according to what best suits her argument.

Outa had approached the courts over her tumultous tenure at the national carrier, accusing her of having had a hand in its collapse.

Myeni is arguing that she will lose her source of income if she is removed from the boards of other companies while her main appeal is underway. The former SAA chair is also trying to appeal the main delinquency judgment through the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

On 22 December 2020, Judge Ronel Tolmay dismissed Myeni’s application for leave to appeal against the delinquency order itself which was handed down in May.