Guptas’ The New Age ‘forecast’ Molefe’s appointment as Transnet CEO – board chair

Transnet board chair Popo Molefe took to the stand at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture on Tuesday, alleging that the Guptas may have been involved in the appointment of his namesake, Brian Molefe, as the state-owned transport company’s CEO.

According to Popo Molefe, Gupta-owned newspaper The New Age (which then became Afro Voice and is now defunct) “forecast” Brian Molefe’s appointment, publishing an article on it before it was public knowledge.

At the time, Popo Molefe considered Brian Molefe “well-educated, respected, and trained by some of government’s most highly respected ministers, like Trevor Manuel”.

Popo Molefe alleges, however, that following Brian Molefe’s appointment at Transnet, procurement systems at the company were weakened and Gupta-linked companies were given contracts.

Asked why such contracts were not detected and why no action was taken, Molefe blamed “sophisticated operations” which saw a company initially staffed by qualified, competent people slowly succumb to corruption.

READ MORE: Capture of ‘cash cow’ Transnet to be detailed at inquiry

He described Transnet as a complicated organisation. “It’s a system necessary for the movement of goods and services across the country,” he said.

Popo Molefe alleged that the former Transnet board would delay renewing contracts only to bring them up right before they expired, so that they could create a false sense of urgency which would be used to justify its appointment decisions.

He added that when he was asked to chair Transnet he felt “small cliques or groups appropriating wealth for themselves” at the company conflicted with the Freedom Charter’s principle of sharing wealth among the people of South Africa.

“The wealth should be shared among the people, not between crooks and thieves,” he said.

Molefe saw his appointment as chair as a “new dawn” and said he aimed to restore Transnet to its former glory, citing the “systematic weakening” of state institutions and the “erosion of skills”.

“Corruption had become endemic,” he said, adding that he believed the “new dawn” would allow state-owned enterprises to be “cleaned up”.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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