IN QUOTES | Alleged bribes, 'lies' and tender irregularities: 5 responses from SAA's Yakhe Kwinana

Former SAA board member and SAA Technical (SAAT) board chairperson Yakhe Kwinana denied that she was open to being persuaded by an American aviation company, AAR, when she accepted an invitation to the US.

She was in the hot seat again on Tuesday as state capture commission evidence leader Kate Hofmeyr and chairperson, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, quizzed her about the allegations of tender irregularities at SAA and corruption.

Among issues in focus was the SAAT tender which was contested by AAR with other service providers. Kwinana testified that she went to the US to make sure that the company had the right resources and infrastructure. She said her visit did not influence the outcome of the tender because the company did not get selected.

Hofmeyr argued that after her US trip, SAA retracted the tender and instead got into a memorandum of understanding with AAR. Asked whether she did not think that was problematic, Kwinana said: “I did not see that as problematic.”

Kwinana also denied allegations by Sibongile Sambo, founder of SRS Aviation, that she tried to solicit a R100m bribe from AAR.

Here are five responses from her testimony:

Being dined by AAR for tender award

“I cannot be persuaded by wining and dining of AAR because I would be in a position to wine and dine myself if I wanted to. The MOU would have been entered into after we had seen the premises and what value they can add to SAA Technical.”

Trip to the US 

“The purpose of our trip was to confirm the resources that they said they had in the paper. We said that this is the company that we can form a partnership with. Our trip there was to confirm what was in the paper. It was not for them to persuade us. We acted in the best interest of SAA Technical to enter into that MOU, which expired after six months.”

Approving the tender

“I remember me saying that there are processes including combined assurance providers and I mentioned internal audit, external audit, risk management and management as a whole, which would form part of the chain within the procurement process.”

There are processes at SAA

“There is a cross-functional team which is responsible to make sure that the process is thorough. There is also a bid adjudication committee and executive committee. All of these people are the gatekeepers of making sure that procurement processes are followed.”

R100m bribe allegations 'untrue'

“Miss Sambo was dumped by AAR in 2014. I called a meeting [in 2015] and Miss Memela said Miss Sambo said I wanted to be introduced to Miss Cheryl Jackson. She said that is in the last quarter of 2015. In May, we went to Chicago and our host was Miss Cheryl Jackson and now I go to Miss Sambo to say I need to be introduced to Cheryl Jackson. That is the blatant lie.”

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