Johannesburg – The Zondo commission will hear aviation-related evidence on Monday morning.
Former SAA board member and chairperson of SAAT Yakhe Kwinana is expected to take the stand.
On Friday, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo announced that the troubled airline’s controversial former chairperson Dudu Myeni would give testimony for the first time this week.
”Next week, the commission will hear evidence by Ms (Yakhe) Kwinana, who used to be a member of the SAA board, as well as evidence from Ms Dudu Myeni, who was chairperson of the SAA board for a certain period,” Justice Zondo said.
Myeni has been implicated by several witnesses at the commission since its public hearings started in 2018.
Earlier this month, former Eskom consultant Nicholas Linnell testified before the commission that he was appointed by Myeni to head an inquiry into the power utility’s troubles in 2015.
Linnell told the commission that he never queried Myeni’s involvement at Eskom but believed she was acting in her capacity as someone close to former president Jacob Zuma.
Myeni told Linnell that Zuma wanted an investigation into Eskom including its load-shedding challenges and later met the ex-head of state with her son Thalente Myeni and the power utility’s former chairperson Zola Tsotsi to discuss executives to be suspended.
In February, a witness identified as “Mr X” told Zondo that his company had been used by one of Thalente’s firms to deposit R3 million.
Myeni would demand cash withdrawn from his company’s account to be delivered to her, according to Mr X’s evidence.
She has also been accused of using State Security Agency agents to intimidate SAA board members and executives, including confiscating their cellphones and laptops.
Evidence leader Paul Kennedy SC also announced that Zuma’s former lawyer and one-time Denel chairperson Daniel Mantsha and the state-owned aerospace and military technology company’s former chief executive Zwelakhe Ntshepe will give evidence the week starting November 9.
Mantsha and Ntshepe were heavily implicated in impropriety by several witnesses this week.
”We have been allocated further time, not next week, but the following starting on November 9 where we have a number of witnesses lined up who will include Mantsha as well as Ntshepe. The legal team will be consulting with him this afternoon, he wasn’t available until now,” Kennedy said.
Political Bureau