There’s more to the Transnet tender saga than meets the eye

If the emerging details of one tender worth nearly R10 million awarded by Transnet proves to have substance, transparency in this country is just another of those catchphrases trotted out to make everyone look good.

Transnet is sticking to the line of not clarifying exactly what service Casterbridge Consulting, owned by a former executive of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, was paid R400 000 a month for throughout 2014 and 2015.

The company appears to have been operated from a residential property in Centurion, has no website and is understood to have used a Gmail account to communicate with Transnet.

There are also indications a senior Transnet executive allegedly helped ensure the company owned by his former boss landed the tender – and Transnet is refusing to provide evidence of the work the company did to justify its huge pay cheque.

Casterbridge Consulting was awarded a contract by Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) in late 2013, for providing “stakeholder management services” related to Transnet’s Swaziland Rail Link project.

Casterbridge Consulting’s sole director is Sandile Madolo, who was Sandile Simelane’s superior when the pair worked at the Development Bank. Simelane is a Transnet spokesperson and the head of Transnet Freight Rail’s corporate affairs department.

We concede it is clearly possible that the “stakeholder management services” related to Transnet’s Swaziland Rail Link project provided by Casterbridge could well be the work of one person and not dependent on maintaining large, expensive offices.

It is also possible that not every company needs a website and that related correspondence could be at such a low level that Gmail would provide the ideal vehicle.

But we would like to know who these unnamed “stakeholders” are.

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