Broke SAA has become the latest state entity with a questionable link to disgraced multinational consultancy Bain & Company.
The airline’s executives have been trying since March to award Bain a flawed R139-million tender to develop an optimal organisational design, despite having budgeted only R8-million for it.
The Mail & Guardian has seen two proposals, one in March and another in May, for the deal, both of which failed to satisfy SAA’s board.
SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali on Thursday confirmed the tender, which had raised red flags in one of SAA’s internal procurement committees, was never awarded because the airline could not afford it.
“This means SAA did not make any payments to any service provider as no award had been made,” Tlali said. “Notwithstanding, we are satisfied that the process leading to the identification of the service provider who would have rendered the service was policy compliant and based on merit,” he said.
