SIU evaluating graft claims against Transnet ports CEO
The CEO of Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), Pepi Selinga, who resisted a shakeup of the senior executive at the state logistics company just months ago, is now facing an internal and external probe into allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) confirmed to Business Day on Sunday that it is “evaluating” whether complaints from the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) form part of the current proclamation or if it needs to activate a new process.
“We have already received a formal complaint on the matter. We are evaluating the information to check whether there is merit to it and also to check whether it falls within the current proclamation or if we need to activate a new process for a proclamation,” said SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.
Satawu sent the complaint to the SIU, and also last week called publicly on Transnet to suspend the “senior executive official” for his alleged role in the irregular awarding of a R300m security fencing tender to a former employer.
Transnet has since confirmed that Selinga has been placed on special leave pending a probe by an independent law firm into allegations against him.
Transnet accepted Silinga’s offer to take leave of absence “to allow the [internal] investigation to proceed without the perception of interference and to ensure that the integrity of the process is not compromised”, said the state-owned logistics company.
Salinga resisted resigning from Transnet late last year, reportedly telling his staff that he would not go quietly after a spate of resignations from Transnet’s executives that included group CEO Portia Derby, chair Popo Molefe and Transnet Freight Rail CEO Siza Mzimela.
It came amid Transnet’s continued poor financial and operational performance by its freight rail and port services.
The DA, meanwhile, has described the evolving crisis and backlog at SA’s ports as a threat to the entire export sector and by extension the national economy.
The DA said in a statement that it wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting that he sign and issue a proclamation authorising the SIU to launch an investigation into allegations of corruption levelled at Silinga.
“The allegations against Silinga are that he irregularly appointed the Coega Development Corporation as the implementing agent for the erection of security fencing upgrades at three of the country’s major ports, namely the Durban, Richards Bay and Saldanha Bay ports. It is further alleged that he permitted the cumulative and collective costs of these security fencing upgrades to rise from R76m to a massive R301m,” said DA public enterprises spokesperson Mimmy Gondwe.