Ex-Transnet exec berated

The bleeding at Transnet has to stop, a high court judge said, before dismissing ousted Transnet director Seth Radebe’s bid to be reinstated.

Radebe accused Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan of racial discrimination, arrogance and treating Transnet like his personal fiefdom. He asked the court to immediately reinstate him, remove the new Transnet board and declare Gordhan’s conduct unlawful, invalid, unconstitutional and discriminatory.

Gordhan, who accused Radebe and the previous board of deliberately failing to act against individuals implicated in large-scale state capture corruption, fired Radebe in April after the board failed to suspend Transnet chief financial officer Garry Pita and CEO Siyabonga Gama.

Radebe maintained Gordhan’s decision to get rid of him after just four months but to retain the services of Ariana Kinley, a white woman who was appointed on the same day, was irrational and amounted to unfair racial discrimination.

Judge Hans Fabricius rejected Radebe’s allegations of racism and irrationality and found the minister had good reason to oust Radebe as he was dissatisfied with Radebe’s supine attitude to corruption surrounding the acquisition of new locomotives at a cost of R54.5 billion.

Werksmans Attorneys found the procurement process was cloaked in corrupt and reckless activities and recommended a judicial inquiry, the suspension of employees involved in the tender, the recovery of misappropriated funds and that the illegal conduct be reported to the Hawks for potential prosecution.

However, Radebe was of the view that the report was inconclusive and appointed a second firm of attorneys to investigate at an unnecessary extra cost of R27 million, which delayed remedial measures further.

The judge described Radebe’s attitude to Gordhan, who he described as “a lay person and pharmacist” as “rather contemptuous”, saying it was not clear how his reinstatement could benefit Transnet or the economy as a whole.

He said it was abundantly clear that Gordhan had acted rationally and the racial connotations cited by Radebe were unjustifiable. There was sufficient evidence to compile a charge sheet and there was no reason not to suspend certain individuals, he added.

The minister had good reason to oust Radebe as he was dissatisfied with his supine attitude to corruption.

Judge Hans Fabricius