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State Capture Commission Chairman Raymond Zondo may recommend that Chairman Cyril Ramaphosa go after former Transnet board members who supported a bizarre settlement payment to Siyabonga Gama in 2011.
Zondo said this when former Transnet board chairman Mafika Mkwanazi concluded his three-day testimony on Monday.
At the center of the evidence was R17m that Gama was paid by the state company when he was reinstated in 2011, having previously been fired for “gross misconduct” the previous year. Allegations of misconduct include that he signed a multi-million dollar contract without reading its terms, insulted his colleagues and ignored the board’s instructions.
The 17 million rand payment consisted of back wages, full benefits and legal costs that the Transnet board approved to pay to Gama when he was reinstated.
Transnet had taken steps to suspend Gama and initiate disciplinary proceedings against him in 2009, when he was CEO of Transnet Freight Rail.
Gama was quick to go to court in an attempt to block the measure, but the court dismissed his request with costs. In June 2010, Transnet showed Gama the door, but the fight was not over.
Gama declared a dispute that reached the company’s negotiating council, while also filing a complaint against Transnet with then-public protector Thuli Madonsela, yelling foul play at his dismissal.
As the dispute over the bargaining council and public protection processes unfolded, Union Buildings intervened in the form of then-Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba and then-President Jacob Zuma.
The Transnet board also took a U-turn, resolving that Gama should be reinstated.
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