Axed Transnet CEO loses bid to get job back

Former Transnet chief executive Siyabonga Gama yesterday lost his Labour Court application to have his dismissal by the board set aside.

Judge Connie Prinsloo said Gama had dismally failed to satisfy the requirements for the contempt application and the interdict he sought. Prinsloo said this was the second time Gama had dragged Transnet to court on very short notice and at great cost, when he should be resolving his contractual dispute in arbitration.

“[Transnet] had to defend a meritless urgent application and fairness dictates that it cannot be expected to pay enormous costs defending litigation that ought not to have been brought in the first place.”

Gama was fired as group CEO of Transnet last month after he did not provide the board with reasons why he should not be axed. The board said it had lost confidence in his ability to lead Transnet due to alleged serious violations of his financial, procurement and fiduciary duties.

Two law firms, Werksmans and MNS, implicated him in alleged breaches of procurement rules on a R54 billion contract to buy 1 064 new locomotives.

Instead, he had approached the Labour Court in Johannesburg to interdict his dismissal. – ANA