Former SAA board member Yakhe Kwinana testifies before the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture on November 2, 2020 in Johannesburg.
JOHANNESBURG – SA’s accountancy regulator is investigating the actions of former SAA board member Yakhe Kwinana after the State Capture Inquiry report found she appeared to have “no clue” about being a chartered accountant.
Kwinana, the director of an auditing firm, served as a board member at the national flag carrier between 2009 and 2016, including as head of its audit and risk committee.
She was heavily criticised in the first part of the report released on Tuesday evening, which found that she and ex-SAA board chair Dudu Myeni caused “sustained damage” to SAA.
The inquiry’s chair and acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found the pair hounded out subordinates who tried to resist their “unlawful conduct,” creating a climate “so intolerable for many personnel that they left the airline.”
Kwinana denied wrongdoing in her testimony before the commission in November of 2020, saying she stood by all the decisions she made
The report questioned whether she has the “requisite knowledge and appreciation of her obligations” as a CA, and recommended that the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) probe.
“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 Charted Accountant or she knew those obligations but dishonestly pretended that she did not know them because it was convenient for her to do so.”
Saica said it had already launched a probe into Kwinana’s conduct, based on her earlier testimony.
“Saica has afforded her an opportunity to make representations to Saica following previous media reports after she appeared in front of the Zondo Commission in November 2020,” the regulator said this week. “To date no such response has been received. Saica is unable to comment further on this ongoing investigation at this stage.”
The accountancy body said it would investigate all members mentioned in the report.
“Adherence to the highest standards of ethical conduct, professional integrity and avoidance of conflict of interest must remain the bedrock of the accountancy profession,” said Saica chair Freeman Nomvalo.
Zondo found that poor auditing of state-owned companies was a theme running through much of the testimony he heard. – FIN24.
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