By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former SAA board member and chartered accountant Yakhe Kwinana has been fined R6.1 million and barred from being a member of the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) following a disciplinary hearing.
Kwinana served as a board member at the national carrier between 2009 and 2016, including as the head of its important audit and risk committee.
The disciplinary hearing concluded in March 2023. The disciplinary committee found her guilty of 13 of the 14 charges levied against her. One of the charges was withdrawn.
Saica’s disciplinary committee said Kwinana “was not a fit and proper individual to be a member of the profession”.
The committee imposed a R300 000 fine per charge in respect of two charges, and a R500 000 fine per charge for the remaining 11.
The commission recommended that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) consider prosecuting Kwinana for corruption and was scathing about her knowledge of the accounting profession.
“The commission believes that the answers she gave to certain questions during her evidence revealed either that she has no clue about some of the basic obligations that she should know as a chartered accountant or she knew those obligations but dishonestly pretended that she did not know them because it was convenient for her to do so.”
Kwinana’s tenure, the report notes, marked a period of “poor quality and ineffectiveness” at SAA and SAAT.
She was closely aligned to former SAA board chair Dudu Myeni, who the commission has also recommended be prosecuted for her role in SAA’s deterioration. The pair “caused sustained damage to our national airline”, the commission report stated.
“They bullied officials within SAA who tried to resist their unlawful conduct. They created a climate so intolerable for many personnel that they left the airline or were forced out only to be replaced by more pliant employees.”
The report added that the management style and approach of both Myeni and Kwinana “enabled acts of fraud and corruption to engulf the entities”.
“They became companies in which decision-making was driven by the benefits that would accrue to those in charge as opposed to what was in the companies’ best interests.”
Saica chief executive Freeman Nomvalo said in a statement that the body “takes all instances of members’ alleged contravention of the Saica Code of Professional Conduct seriously and all these matters are investigated, irrespective of the nature of the assignment or the individual member concerned. Saica deals with all allegations without fear or favour.”
Saica members who fail to uphold the highest ethical and professional standards compromise public and private sector institutions and the South African economy, said Nomvalo.