Gordhan ‘out of line’ over Radebe dismissal
Lawyers of former Transnet director Radebe threaten court action and say public enterprises minister acted irrationally
Former Transnet director Seth Radebe’s lawyers have accused Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan of acting irrationally and have demanded that their client be reinstated with immediate effect.
Former Transnet director Seth Radebe’s lawyers have accused Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan of acting irrationally and have ordered that their client be reinstated with immediate effect.
Radebe was dismissed from the Transnet board by the minister on allegations that he was embroiled in state capture.
Radebe’s lawyer, Eric Mabuza, wrote to Gordhan last week giving the minister until Monday to respond.
On Thursday Mabuza said Gordhan had disputed their claims and they would now approach the courts.
Gordhan has described allegations and statements made by Radebe as “replete with distortions of fact”.
He said if Radebe wanted to initiate legal proceedings the department would respond accordingly, under oath in court.
Gordhan replaced the entire Transnet board in May, putting Popo Molefe at the helm.
Radebe was one of the directors dismissed after submitting representations to Gordhan on why he should not be fired.
The new board’s biggest challenge is to clean up the rot that crept in at the parastatal under the previous boards.
Radebe was hired by former public enterprises minister Lynne Brown in December 2017 and was chairman of Transnet’s audit committee.
As chair of the committee he took possession of the Werksmans forensic report into procurements from General Electric, Bombardier Transport, China South Rail and China North Rail.
In its final report, Werksmans recommended that Transnet institute disciplinary action against individuals identified in the report and that lawenforcement agencies investigate matters identified in the report. Business Day understands Radebe declared the Werksmans report incomplete and refused to take action.
It is alleged that he singlehandedly hired another legal firm, Mncedisi Ndlovu & Sedumedi (MNS) Attorneys, to conduct another investigation. This was allegedly done without terms of reference, a budget or timeline. There has been no outcome on that investigation.
In his letter to Gordhan, Mabuza said Radebe had hired MNS Attorneys to finalise “outstanding issues” in the Werksmans scope of work.
Radebe is claiming that Gordhan pressured the former Transnet board to remove the entity’s CEO, Siyabonga Gama, and threatened to remove board members if they did not do so.
Radebe was of the opinion there was no evidence of wrongdoing against Gama.
Gama has been implicated in the Werksmans report. Insiders believe Radebe, although only in his position at Transnet for five months, was doing Gama’s bidding. Radebe has insisted that he held no brief for Gama and regarded him as a consummate professional who steered Transnet diligently.