DA to PAIA all of Nico Bezuidenhout's CVs

07 December 2014

I will submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application for all documents related to the initial appointment and continued service of South African Airways (SAA) acting-CEO Mr Nico Bezuidenhout.

There have been a number of credible allegations about Mr Bezuidenhout's lack of qualifications and his honesty with regards to this. We require the following documents to get to the bottom of this situation:

All Nico Bezuidenhout's CV's (in their original form) that have ever been lodged with SAA, including the CV that was lodged as part of the 2006 submission to the Air Services Licensing Council for the licence to start Mango. 

The original advert placed for the position of CEO of Mango Airlines and the advert, if any, placed for the acting-CEO role of SAA. 

The minutes of the board minutes where the sign-off process and final decision regarding the contents of the annual reports was made. 

These documents will shed light on the following:

1. Whether Mr Bezuidenhout did in fact purposefully misled SAA about his qualifications when he applied for the Mango licence in 2006, as is alleged in the Sunday Times today.

2. Whether SAA circumvented its own hiring policies and job specifications in appointing Mr Bezuidenhout. If they did in fact know that he did not have any qualifications, it is highly likely that Mr Bezuidenhout did not meet the requirements of the job as advertised and that he therefore never should have been appointed in the first place.

3. Whether Mr Bezuidenhout did in fact sign off on the annual reports for 2011 and 2012, knowing that his qualifications were being misrepresented in the annual reports. Allegations have been made that imply he was aware of the misrepresentation of his qualifications in the annual report. 

If the allegations in today's Sunday Times are true, it would mean that Mr Bezuidenhout purposefully mislead SAA with false information on his CV as far back as 2006. It would also mean that his attempts to spin himself out of the current accusations have been blatant fabrications designed to protect his reputation. 

I will therefore submit a PAIA application to get all the documents needed to prove or disprove these damning allegations.  Simply not knowing and leaving it to endless speculation is unacceptable.

As a member of the Public Enterprises Portfolio Committee, I believe that if prima facie evidence surfaces that Mr Bezuidenhout did in fact mislead SAA or that SAA compromised its own hiring practices and job specifications, it would merit a full-scale inquiry by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises. 

We need to be confident that our public entities are being run by competent people with integrity. The proper appointment processes must be followed and  individuals must be suitably qualified. 

Statement issued by Natasha Michael MP, DA Shadow Minister Public Enterprises, December 7 2014

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