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Former CEO of Transnet, Siyabonga Gama.
- Mafika Mkhwanazi, the chairwoman of the Transnet board in 2010, was “under instructions to reinstate the fired Transnet executive Siyabonga Gama,” said a former legal adviser.
- After being laid off in late June 2010, Gama was reinstated to the freight rail operator in early 2011 with full payment late.
- The former General Manager of Legal Services of the Transnet Group, Siyabulela Mapoma, says he was “made to understand” that the instruction to reinstate Gama came from the presidency.
Transnet’s chairman was “under instructions” to reinstate Siyabonga Gama into the state freight rail operator after being fired in 2010 after being convicted of misconduct, a former legal adviser for the state railways company testified on Wednesday. load.
On Wednesday, the commission – which has been investigating allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud at state entities since August 2018 – began hearing evidence about the circumstances surrounding Gama’s firing and subsequent reinstatement in 2010 and 2011.
At the time, CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, Gama was suspended in 2009 and fired on June 29, 2010, after being convicted of three counts of misconduct, including a breach of trust with Transnet’s leadership.
But he returned to Transnet nine months later, in February 2011. He was reinstated with the full late payment, while Transnet also paid 75% of the costs of his legal challenges.
On Wednesday, the former director general of Legal Services of the Transnet Group, Siyabulela Mapoma, told the commission that Mafika Mkhwanazi, the chairman of the Transnet board, had tasked him with the task of “bringing Gama back to Transnet” after having been fired.
Mapoma said that, during the course of a series of meetings with Mkhwanazi, the then president told him that he was “under instruction” to win back the executive.
Judge Raymond Zondo, president of the investigation, asked Mapoma who had given the instructions.
“No, I never asked him, [but] Several times I was made to understand that the instructions came from the Presidency, ”Mapoma said.
Mapona said he was also telephoned twice by Siyabonga Mahlangu, at the time a special advisor to then-Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba, asking why there were delays in reinstating Gama and asking him to speed things up.
Mapona said he told Mahlangu not to call him again, as he did not inform him. “He never called me again.”
Gama was later appointed CEO of Transnet when Brian Molefe was hired to join Eskom in 2015, following the abrupt suspension of the CEO of the energy company.
Gama was finally fired in October 2018.
The investigation continues.
