JOHANNESBURG – Four former Transnet executives, including former Group Chief Executive Officer Brian Molefe, appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court on fraud and corruption charges linked to alleged irregularities in multi-billion rand locomotive procurement contracts.
The court postponed the case to 6 October 2025, for further investigations and granted each of the accused bail of R50 000 with stringent conditions attached.
Molefe is currently a member of parliament for Jacob Zuma’s MK party.
Molefe faces charges alongside Anoj Singh, a former Group Chief Financial Officer, Siyabonga Gama, a former Chief Executive Officer and Thamsanqa Jiyane, who served as Chief Procurement Officer in the Transport Freight Rail division within Transnet.
The four executives are facing 18 charges, including contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), fraud, corruption, and violations of the Companies Act.
The charges stem from Transnet’s 2011 Market Demand Strategy (MDS), which aimed to expand and modernize the country’s port, rail, and pipeline infrastructure over seven years, with a focus on shifting rail-friendly freight from road to rail.
Alleged tender irregularities
According to the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC), the accused allegedly flouted tender processes during locomotive acquisitions by irregularly appointing CSR, a Chinese company that did not qualify, to provide 95 locomotives.
The IDAC alleges that due processes were not followed to advantage CSR, resulting in a contract initially costed at just over R3.2 billion being inflated and allegedly exceeding its value by over R231 million, with payments reaching over R3.4 billion.
Two additional locomotive procurement deals are also under scrutiny. A contract for 100 locomotives was allegedly inflated from R3.8 billion to R4.8 billion, while a deal for 1 064 locomotives saw costs balloon from R38.1 billion to R54 billion.
The IDAC emphasized that this case forms part of the broader state capture investigation, referencing revelations from the State Capture Commission hearings about billions looted from Transnet.
“The accused all held key positions in Transnet, which was a State Owned Entity. It was their duty to perform due diligence and ensure that Transnet got value for its money,” the IDAC stated in its press release.
The Investigating Directorate alleges that instead of fulfilling their position of trust duties, the executives “enabled and ensured that costs were inflated and that their preferred bidder was unduly advantaged.”
IDAC spokesperson Henry Mamothame highlighted how the arrests demonstrate the abuse of positions of trust and power, stating that the accused “allowed themselves to be part of a corrupt relationship that sought self-enrichment as opposed to the enrichment of the country and its infrastructure.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.