It was supposed to be the highlight of her career, being appointed the acting CEO of the once-mighty SAA. But it turned into a nightmare that cost her six years of earnings.
Mathulwane Mpshe stood up against state capture and the all-powerful former SAA chair Dudu Myeni, who enjoyed former President Jacob Zuma’s protection when she acted against the “best interest” of the airline.
“I will never forget the headlines saying that I was suspended for gross misconduct. I was forced to take a settlement at that time, I could still be working, but I lost six years of earnings. It had a serious impact on my finances,” she told the Sunday Times this week.
“We were a two-income family and then suddenly, after 2018, we were not. You know when you are working, for the latter part of your working years you make sure that you pay off your debts so that you can go on retirement or whatever, but I didn’t get that luxury.”
Mpshe was appointed acting CEO of the airline in July 2015, replacing Nico Bezuidenhout. But four months later, and after resisting many of Myeni's unlawful orders, she was moved back to her old job in human resources.
Soon afterwards, in May 2016, she was handed an envelope containing a long list of allegations of misconduct dating as far back as 2012 and was suspended.
As much as corporate SA says they do support anti-corruption, they don't put their money where their mouth is
— Mathulwane Mpshe
Mpshe remained on suspension with pay and late in 2017 was asked to prepare representations to the board as to why her suspension should be lifted. She did so, but in February the following year the new CEO, Vuyani Jarana, proposed a mutual separation agreement.
According to acting chief justice Raymond Zondo’s report on state capture, Mpshe was advised by her attorneys that they could continue to fight and were likely to win. But because she had already spent almost R500,000 in legal fees, Mpshe agreed to a mutual separation.
“I couldn’t get a proper job after that because people would not touch me, and you know behind closed doors they would say, ‘No, she’s high risk. We can’t employ her because she’s fighting with the government’," she said.
“As much as corporate SA says they support anti-corruption, they don’t put their money where their mouth is because they will not employ a lot of us. I am not the only one. At the moment we are talking about SA not having skilled people, but we are skilled and not working because they consider us high risk.”
Mpshe said the experience at SAA, especially the 22-month suspension, had traumatised her.
“I had considered that [CEO post] to be the highest point of my career and this happened to me at that point of my life. It was devastating. I woke up one morning and I couldn’t go to work. As the suspension went on and on, people started thinking that I must have done something. It affected my children who were at university, my husband, friends and relatives,” she said.
Besides the emotional and financial trauma she experienced, Mpshe had also endured threats to her life.
“I managed to get a security assessment while I was with SAA and got protection. But at some point that became one of the allegations used against me, that I benefited by getting security without due process,” she said.
Mpshe’s troubles began when she refused to implement unlawful instructions from Myeni and her fellow board member, Yakhe Kwinana, with regard to a catering contract for SAA airport lounges.
The Zondo report found: “The board’s inappropriate involvement in the affairs of management did not stop with the appointment of personnel. The board also took decisions that were contrary to the advice of management.
"When these decisions were probed during the course of the commission’s hearings, it became clear that they were unjustified. In some instances, the decisions were so lacking in rationality that the only explanation for the board’s conduct appears to have been some ulterior purpose.”
Former chief procurement officer Masimba Dahwa was forced to settle for a six-month remuneration package after attempts to hold conciliation meetings were scuppered by SAA not showing up.
He told the commission that he had no formal job offers for 3½ years, and his house in Pretoria had to be repossessed.
Another whistleblower, former SAA treasurer Cynthia Stimpel, lost her job after she objected to SAA appointing unknown financier BNP Capital to advise on the restructuring of the airline’s R15bn debt and to raise funding in return for a R256m success fee.
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