The FF Plus welcomes the fact that Mr Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Public Enterprises, is finally cleaning house at Transnet, but there is still a lot of work to be done to get everything cleaned up.
Decisive action must be taken against corrupt officials. And the officials who resigned before allegations of corruption and other offenses could be investigated, must still be prosecuted.
The minister must also speedily attend to the Transnet-appointed trustees of the Transnet Pension Fund (TPF) and the Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund (TSDBF) who are involved in a class action at present; these trustees must be replaced with other trustees who will act responsibly and with goodwill towards Transnet pensioners.
In just the past two weeks, the chairperson of Transnet’s board, Ms Linda Mabaso, its financial head and executive director, Mr Garry Pita, as well as two more non-executive directors resigned prior to a meeting with the Department of Public Enterprises.
Clearly, they succumbed to the pressure applied by Mr Gordhan. He sharply criticised the current board members by saying that under their supervision, Transnet got entangled in a web of serious allegations of blatant corruption and state capture.
The leader of the FF Plus, Dr Pieter Groenewald, and the chairperson of the party, adv Anton Alberts, will soon engage with Minister Gordhan to discuss a possible settlement for the class action and cleaning up the board of trustees.
In particular, they will request that the minister makes more of Transnet’s surplus funds available to pensioners so as to offer them urgent interim financial relief.
Contact details: 082 391 3117 / 065 801 7216
