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By Editorial staff

Journalist


Which hunt do youcall a witch-hunt?

South African Airways management spins facts amid legal disputes, accused of deflecting blame by attacking media coverage.


The pilots in South African Airways (SAA), being professionals, will have been trained on how to avoid getting into a spin in an aircraft.

The top management at the airline not so much. They have been spinning facts like a top this week…

On Tuesday, the airline agreed to destroy or not use information which allegedly was taken illegally from its competitor, Airlink.

ALSO READ: ‘SAA must delete data from Airlink’: Court orders airline to stop using info

This was made part of a court order, pending further action. Yet, even as it was agreeing to destroy the information, SAA was maintaining that such information was publicly available – something Airlink disputes.

The court case arose out of reporting by The Citizen that the Airlink document had found its way to SAA with a former Airlink staffer who joined the national airline.

After the court order and agreement, SAA’s interim CEO, Professor John Lamola, claimed our coverage “bordered on a campaign of defamation against SAA”.

Really? There was enough substance in our reports that the matter ended up in court, Prof.

And so far, no one has sued us for what we have written. So, your slur on us is nothing more than a transparent attempt to deflect attention away from what is happening in your organisation.

Try shooting someone other than the messenger.

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Airlink flying South African Airways (SAA)