SAA pilots won't be intimidated by sabotage claims
7 December 2015
Cape Town – Tension at South African Airways (SAA) has increased to new heights as the chairperson of the SAA Pilots Association said he refuses to be intimidated by allegations of sabotage against his black colleagues.
Captain John Harty said the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) informed him on Friday of intelligence that he and other pilots had attempted to recruit SAA technicians to tamper with the rudder system of an aircraft in order to commit sabotage.
This, according to the intelligence, was an attempt to discredit the black pilot who would be flying it.
Harty said the intelligence has “a whiff of intimidation” about it after his organisation’s vote of no confidence in the SAA board and its chairperson Dudu Myeni, signalling the start of a battle between the pilots and the board.