The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has been given the green light to pursue its delinquency application against former SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni.

In a judgment on Thursday, the high court in Pretoria dismissed Myeni’s special plea, with costs, that Outa did not have legal standing to bring the application.

“I am of the view that the special plea should be dismissed and Outa should be granted leave to bring the action in terms of section 157 (1) (d) of the [Companies} Act, together with Saapa [SA Airways Pilots' Association],” judge Ronel Tolmay said in her judgment.

This section provides for an application to be brought by a party acting in the public interest.

The ruling against Myeni followed two other rulings made by Tolmay earlier this month when she dismissed two applications by Myeni.

Myeni sought to amend her plea she made in 2017, and she also sought to join 28 other SAA directors in the case.

She allegedly wanted to change her plea to deny her personal involvement in wrongdoing and shift responsibility to the SAA executive management.

In her application, Myeni claimed that a refusal to allow her to join other board members would lead to a miscarriage of justice because the decisions and conduct alleged by Outa and Saapa were that of the board as a collective.

In her judgment on Thursday, Tolmay said Myeni should also pay the costs of those two applications.

“The trial will resume on January 27 for five weeks,” Tolmay said.

The delinquency case stems from an application filed by Outa and Saapa in March 2017 to declare Myeni a delinquent director as a result of her conduct while she chaired the SAA board from December 2012 to October 2017.