South African Airways (SAA) on Thursday denied that its acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout had misrepresented his qualifications to the board.
“This is utterly false,” the airline said in response to enquiries by certain media houses, adding that these enquiries were an attempt to discredit its management.
“For the record, Bezuidenhout has never made a secret of the fact that his university studies included courses required for degrees in industrial psychology and transport economics, and that he started a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), but that he did not complete these studies, choosing instead to enter the world of work,” the airline said in a statement.
However, the airline conceded that, owing to an editing error, its 2011 and 2012 annual reports indicated that Bezuidenhout had completed his degrees.
The national carrier noted that, while he had completed his MBA coursework, he had not handed in his thesis as he chose to concentrate on building SAA’s low-cost carrier, Mango, before completing the degree.
“These facts were laid out transparently and comprehensively in all job applications and curriculum vitaes he has ever submitted, and should any document, report, or other communication exist which claims anything different to the above, this was written and published without his agreement and has never had his backing,” SAA emphasised.