South African Airways board chair Dudu Myeni’s bid to allegedly “sabotage” the appointment of a CEO for the airline has resulted in a fresh call for her to be fired.

Democratic Alliance MP Alf Lees will press for her to be fired when SAA appears before the Finance Committee in Parliament on Tuesday.

Dudu Myeni ‘innocently made a mistake’, tribunal told

Myeni is under scrutiny after the Sunday Times reported yesterday that she “found herself in a compromising situation after it emerged that she allegedly attempted to halt an SAA meeting by misleading new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba over a process to appoint a new CEO”.

This‚ said Lees in a statement‚ was the “last straw”.

Myeni allegedly burst into the meeting on May 30 with a letter written by Gigaba‚ calling for the meeting not to go ahead. It later emerged that Gigaba was acting on incorrect information from Myeni‚ who had allegedly told him the board was getting ready to make decisions related to the long-term turnaround strategy as well as the airline’s finances‚ when in fact it was discussing the new CEO.

“When SAA appear before the Finance Committee in Parliament on Tuesday‚ the DA will press for corporate warlord Myeni to be fired as the SAA Board Chair‚” said Lees.

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“SAA has been without a CEO for more than two years and during this time SAA has lost R6.3 billion through bad management‚ particularly by the Board of Directors and its Chair‚ Myeni.

“Myeni’s apparent attempt to manipulate Finance Minister‚ Malusi Gigaba‚ to get the Board meeting that sat to consider the appointment of a CEO stopped‚ simply reinforces the delinquent director ruling against Myeni by the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC)‚” he said.

He said the national carrier was in a perilous state.