The DA said it would seek a court order setting aside the reappointment of Dudu Myeni as the Chairperson of the Board of South Africa Airways.
Monday's announcement by DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, follows Friday's cabinet announcement that Myeni had been reappointed to head the SAA Board along with 11 other members.
"The DA is of the strong opinion that there is a prima facie case to be made that Ms Myeni's reappointment by Cabinet is wholly irrational given her appalling performance as SAA Board Chairperson over the past four years - overseeing the airline's steady decline," Maimane said.
"Her reappointment not only reeks of nepotism and cronyism so common under the Zuma administration, but it also flies in the face of the need for good governance at State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), especially SAA, which is in financial ruins - failing to make a profit for several years - and a whisker away from being liquidated".
"Our legal action thus seeks to have the reappointment of Ms Myeni set aside as being wholly irrational. We contend that Ms Myeni is an unfit and inappropriate appointment as she is incapable of steering the national carrier in the right direction," said Maimane.
Maimaine said that during Myeni's time as SAA Board Chairperson the state-owned airline has become a financial disaster and the seriousness of the situation at SAA cannot be overstated.
He said under her guidance, SAA has:
"Failed to publish annual financial statements for 2014/15, with an apparent loss of R 4.7 billion;
"Failed to publish annual financial statements for 2015/16, with an apparent loss of R 4 billion;
"Run SAA at an apparent R 1.3 billion loss for the first quarter of 2016/17;
"Irrationally suspended officials, including the Head of Human Resources, apparently because they tried to curb corruption;
"Oversaw the BnP funding debacle, which cost SAA millions of rands with no returns; and
"Put SAA at risk of losing lucrative routes such as the Hong Kong route.
"Ms Myeni has been doing President Zuma's bidding at SAA for the past four years. It is the archetypal example of cadre deployment - appointing cronies to positions of power and influence to make Zuma-friendly decisions. This in and of itself renders Myeni unfit to oversee the national carrier," Maimaine said.
