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Dudu Myeni’s case for outing ‘Mr X’ postponed to June
The former SAA chair is facing charges of defeating the administration of justice.
Dudu Myeni in the dock of the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, 29 March 2022. Picture: Neil McCartney.
The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday postponed the case against former South African Airways (SAA) chairperson Dudu Myeni to June.
Myeni’s case was previously postponed in March for the state to consider various representations made by her legal team.
The former SAA chair was unable to attend court on Wednesday because she was sick. The case has now been postponed to 14 June.
Mr X
Myeni is facing charges of defeating the administration of justice after she outed a witness during her testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture in November 2020.
She revealed the identity of Mr X, who previously implicated Myeni at the commission. He said that she had instructed him to transfer R1 million into the account of the Jacob G Zuma Foundation.
At the time, Myeni claimed that Mr X was “a family member” before blurting out his surname despite a warning from the commission’s chairperson Chief Justice Raymond Zondo not to repeat it.
The incident led to the commission lodging a criminal complaint against Myeni for revealing the identity of the witness.
ALSO READ: Myeni was ‘difficult to defy’, says former SAA acting CEO
Zondo had instructed Myeni that the person’s identity should not be made public and he was thus referred to as “Mr X”.
The chairperson explained that he took the decision to lodge the complaint after reviewing Myeni’s affidavit explaining her conduct when she identified Mr X at the commission.
He indicated that the commission wanted the police to investigate a possible contravention of regulation 9 of the inquiry’s regulations – which empowers Zondo to direct a witness’s identity be protected, or the Commission’s Act – which makes anyone who “wilfully hinders or obstructs” the commission’s performance, guilty of an offence.
More criminal charges?
Myeni may also be facing a separate criminal charge for pulling no-show at the commission despite being summoned to appear before Zondo in May 2021.
Zondo said a criminal charge would be laid even if Myeni, who was declared a delinquent director, made herself available to give evidence.
“The secretary of the commission must take steps to lay a criminal complaint with the South African Police Service (Saps) against her for acting in breach of the summons and the Commissions Act. I direct that she should make herself available to give evidence today whether it’s via Zoom or any other methods used for her to appear virtually,” he said at the time.
READ MORE: Zondo report: How Dudu Myeni drove SAA into the ground
Meanwhile, Solidarity has signalled its intention to lay charges against Myeni and 19 other people allegedly involved in state capture.
This includes former Transet and Eskom head Brian Molefe, former chairperson of Denel, Daniel Mantsha, former President Jacob Zuma, and the former chief executive of Denel, Zwelakhe Ntsepe.
Solidarity said, in March, that it would file charges of corruption, theft, fraud and mismanagement of state funds against the accused at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria.
“All the accused in the Solidarity docket had been involved, at least on a prima facie basis, in criminal activities,” said Solidarity chief executive Dr Dirk Hermann.
