A contract which will end up costing SAA R1.8bn is in the spotlight at the Zondo Commission this week. The individual in the hot seat is the former head of procurement at South African Airways Technical, Nontsasa Memela, who is accused of breaching protocol by giving advice to the winning bidders — who also paid her about R2.5m.
Nontsasa Memela, a senior official from SAA does not dispute that a company which scored a contract to supply aviation components to the airline paid her, in her personal capacity, R2.5-million shortly beforehand.
But, he says, the payment had nothing to do with the tender agreement.
“These two have absolutely no link in between,” the former head of procurement at SAA Technical (SAAT) told the Zondo Commission on Monday 10 February.
Last week, the inquiry into State Capture heard that Memela purchased a R3.8-million house in Bedfordview around February 2016, of which R2.5-million was found to have been paid by a local company called JM Aviation.
Roughly three months later, JM Aviation would win a contract to supply aviation components as the local BEE partner of US firm AAR Aviation.
Over two days of testimony, Memela has emphatically denied any connection between…
