Top civil aviation man quits

2003-03-27 11:37

Pretoria - The Civil Aviation Authority said on Thursday it had accepted the resignation of its senior communications manager, Trevor Davids, who had been implicated in allegations of wrongdoing.

The resignation was effective from March 25, said CAA acting chief executive officer Sakhile Nyoni.

"Mr Davids' resignation brings to an end the disciplinary hearing that was in progress at the time of his resignation."

Interim spokesperson KC Marobela would not give reasons for the resignation. "This is an internal matter," he said.

He would also not divulge the charges Davids faced in his disciplinary hearing - which has not been completed.

"All I can tell you is that our relationship with him has come to an end."

Marobela said the CAA has not considered charging Davids criminally.

The Mail and Guardian newspaper reported last month that Davids and other CAA officials faced suspension for their role in alleged irregularities involving the authority's suspended CEO Trevor Abrahams.

Abrahams faces charges of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement before a disciplinary tribunal.

'Fruitless and wasteful expenditure'

In January, newspaper reports said a forensic probe had recommended that Abrahams be criminally charged and ordered to repay tens of thousands of rands to the organisation.

Investigators reportedly found "countless examples of fruitless and wasteful expenditure of taxpayers' monies by Abrahams".

The forensic report also called for action against other senior CAA officials, including Davids.

According to the Mail and Guardian, the probe found that Davids was appointed to a senior position, despite having no higher-education qualifications.

Investigators reportedly found he was "a fraud and ought to be dealt with as such".

Davids allegedly tendered for communications consulting services using the name of a Cape Town-based company, and invoiced the CAA using a different name.

He also had been accused of "perpetuated lies" on his curriculum vitae when he claimed he was doing part-time LLB studies with an expected completion date of November 2004.

Davids could not be reached for comment.

- SAPA