SAA CEO labour court matter struck off the roll

10th April 2015 By: News24Wire

SAA CEO labour court matter struck off the roll

Suspended SAA CEO Monwabisi Kalawe
Photo by: Duane Daws

Suspended SAA CEO Monwabisi Kalawe's bid to stop his disciplinary hearing has been struck off the roll of the Johannesburg  Labour Court, a court clerk said on Friday.

The clerk did however not know the reason why. SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said the airline had not been formally notified and could thus not comment.

Business Day reported that Kalawe withdrew the challenge. According to Bloomberg one of the reasons for the suspension was that he allegedly used company equipment to record colleagues in his fight against a sexual harassment claim and that he had an affair with a colleague.

Kalawe, who was appointed in June 2013, had been seeking an interdict to halt his disciplinary inquiry and lift his suspension.

Kalawe was suspended at the end of October 2014, at the behest of SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni.

Mango CEO Nico Bezuidenhout, who was appointed acting SAA CEO to stand in for Kalawe, said in December 2014 that it was a "human resources issue". According to reports the suspension was due to infighting between Kalawe and the board, with Kalawe and Myeni accusing each other of poor governance and procurement irregularities.

According to an affidavit Kalawe had filed with the labour court, he explained to then Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba the reason for the breakdown in his relationship with Myeni involved the airline's wanting to buy 23 new wide-body jets.

It was, he said "as a result of my insistence on proper governance controls over the wide body transaction, in particular my implementation of the resolution to appoint a transaction advisor".