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The United National Transport Union (Untu) launched a broadside against Transnet after SOE financial statements showed irregular spending of R9.9 billion in the last year.
Untu Secretary General Steve Harris said it was unacceptable that the rail and port operator continued to misuse taxpayers’ money just three years after it emerged that Transnet had been at the center of state capture in South Africa.
“It’s just not good enough to say that efforts to improve compliance led to a significant reduction in irregular expenses arising from new contracts,” Harris said.
“There shouldn’t be any irregular spending at all. This is money that could have been used to create more jobs at Transnet and alleviate poverty in these extremely difficult times. “
Transnet’s revenue increased 1.3% to R75.1 billion for the year, driven by a 2.9% rate increase, the company said in its annual report.
The increase was offset by a 1.3% drop in cargo volumes to 212.4 million tonnes and a 2.4% decrease in container traffic through South African ports.
Despite saving R 4.7 billion during the shutdown as a result of fewer employees working overtime and a sharp reduction in consulting fees, Transnet was 10.4% under budget and almost 40% below target profit.
Meanwhile, the closure had caused theft and vandalism of infrastructure to reach unprecedented levels.
Although 547 cases had been turned over to the police for investigation, the company was unable to explain to Untu why so few cases were successfully prosecuted.
“Although Transnet assures us that it is working closely with SAPS, Untu knows that the existing Rapid Rail Police Unit with its 3,348 officers has zero impact on fighting crime,” Harris said.
Large-scale cable theft and vandalism had affected not only Transet, but also the Agencia de Ferrocarriles de Pasajeros de SA (Prasa), whose commuter rail infrastructure had been devastated during the shutdown, leaving it unable to operate trains. on more than half of its routes.
“To date, Police Minister Bheki Cele has been conspicuous in his absence to explain why rail-related crime is reaching unprecedented levels under the nose of his seemingly non-functional unit,” Harris said.
Harris also voiced the union’s concern that the suspects were not being charged under the Criminal Matters Amendment Act, which provided stiff sentences of up to 30 years in prison for those found guilty of damaging state infrastructure.
TimesLIVE
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