On Tuesday, 5 September, during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), committee chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa told the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) head Andy Mothibi to “move with speed” on blacklisting of companies and individuals linked to irregularities at Transnet.

Officials from Transnet and the SIU were briefing the finance watchdog on the ailing state-owned enterprise’s financial statements and annual report for the 2021/2022 financial year. Also on the agenda was the SIU’s investigation into Transnet – which lost billions to graft during the State Capture era.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Top 10 sites of State Capture: What the Guptas really cost our country

In its presentation, the SIU noted several companies and individuals linked to wrongdoing at the entity. It listed more than 30 names for blacklisting referrals, with actions pending.

Hlengwa told Mothibi: “I will urge you to move with speed with this, because there for example, you’ve cited Philani Mavundla. He’s a mayor at Umvoti Municipality [in KwaZulu-Natal].”

Hlengwa then cited another example from the SIU’s list: “You’ve got [the company] Zikhulise there – Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport – there is a series of complaints about the quality of housing that particular company built in Umlazi.”

Hlengwa told Mothibi: “So there’s urgency in this, otherwise it’s a desktop exercise.”

During the briefing, Veronica Mente, of the EFF, touched on the blacklisting and asked if there was a pattern of companies or individuals using different company names once their businesses had been blacklisted.

Mothibi responded that this was part of the unit’s investigations and would include input from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, which would help assist the unit in dealing with the issue “once and for all”. He also added the SIU was working with Transnet to develop systems and would work with Transnet to monitor those.

Officials jumping ship

Another issue raised during the meeting was consequence management within Transnet, with committee member Benedicta van Minnen of the DA stating that officials implicated in wrongdoing jumped ship before issues could be dealt with.

“This is a problem we see all over the system. When people are facing consequence management, they retire, they resign, they leave,” she said and further questioned Transnet officials on how they would ensure that people who leave under dark clouds don’t reappear at other entities.

In 2021, Daily Maverick reported how municipal officials – including municipal managers – in the Western Cape jumped ship when facing disciplinary action. The cases mentioned at the time included municipal managers from the Knysna municipality. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Municipal officials under investigation often jump before they are pushed — Western Cape government

In her response, Transnet CEO Portia Derby said it “happens to us as well”.

Derby said it was something that Transnet was thinking about and was an area that “definitely needs some resolution”. Derby said Transnet was trying to keep accurate records of employees.

Sandra Coetzee, Transnet’s chief legal officer, said the organisation was working on setting up internal systems that would allow individuals’ names to be red-flagged if they appeared in reports, such as from the State Capture Inquiry.

The DA’s Van Minnen said Transnet’s work on an internal system was “at least a good move”.

In Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s State Capture Inquiry report, Transnet was identified as the primary site of alleged looting related to the Gupta family, with more than R40-billion lost from the state-owned entity. Several senior officials were implicated. DM