By Wednesday evening SAA spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, said he could not yet confirm, nor deny, receipt of correspondence from Satawu as he was not yet aware of the matter.

Satawu wanted pilot Captain Sandy Bayne and general manager of operations, Zuks Ramasia, to be suspended with immediate effect.

“Bayne forged the signature of chief pilot Eric Manensa and made changes to the Flight Operations Manual,” Satawu said in a statement.

They believe Bayne’s immediate superior, Ramasia, “swept the matter under the carpet” by saying her subordinate "had made a mistake and should be forgiven”.

'Unethical' behaviour

Satawu expressed its unhappiness with SAA saying employees who committed the alleged offences couldn’t continue in their jobs without being subjected to disciplinary action.

“Forging anyone’s signature is fraud but forging a superior’s signature to pass off amendments to an official document is unimaginable.”

Ramasia’s behaviour during the matter was “unethical”, Satawu said.

“It is apparent Ramasia does not have SAA’s best interest at heart... Zwane must suspend Bayne and Ramasia if he is to stem the rot that has ingrained itself at the state-owned airline.”

This follows a report released in December 2015 by Ernst & Young forensics, saying that potentially 60% of SAA's total procurement could, in one way or another, be subject to weak business controls.

Ernst & Young selected a total of 48 contracts across SAA, Air Chefs, Mango and SAA Technical (SAAT) to study. The purpose was to identify and quantify the losses caused by "failings" in either the procurement, contracting or implementation phases of the identified contracts.

-News24.com