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Transnet seizes assets worth more than R20 million from employees

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Transnet says it has managed to attach assets to the value of R26 million which belonged to its former employees implicated in wrongdoing.

The company says most of these workers have either since resigned or were dismissed. The freight rail utility was briefing Parliament on progress made regarding internal investigations of misconduct by Transnet employees.

Head of the Legal Service Unit, Sandra Coetzee says all the 17 investigations that were conducted together with the Special Investigating Unit have since been completed.

“The assets available to be monetized is R26 million. The process of monetizing those assets relates to the disposal be that being in the form of an auction or some other form of a sale to recover the money itself. We have already recovered financial over 14 million of 26 million in asset value. This is an ongoing process in collaboration with the SIU.”

It has also emerged that Transnet has lost about R2.1 billion in the past financial year due to cable theft.
The company says cable theft is still a major problem that is costing the freight company huge sums of money in infrastructure maintenance.

Head of Freight Rail at Transnet is Rudzani Ligege…

“We have lost a whooping 2.1 billion as a result of cable theft. Also in terms of organizing, we have lost about 7.4 million tonnes, you know that we have lost due to cable theft. So this cancer is real, it really needs to be dealt with with the seriousness that it deserves.”

Availing rail lines to private operators 

In April, Transnet Freight Rail announced it will make the first slots on its lines available to private operators. This is in a bid to maximise economic opportunities offered by rail in the country.

The company said bids will be taken from 01 April to 31 May 2022.

Transnet Freight Rail CEO Sizakele Mzimela says the appropriate pricing will encourage the use of railways instead of the road network to move goods.

Six of the slots are on the container corridor between City Deep in Johannesburg and Durban.

The other 10 are on the line between Pretoria and East London.

The announcement has since been welcomed by the African Rail Industry Association (ARIA).

ARIA says the move will attract investment and could lead to a stronger economy and more jobs.

In the video below, Mesela Nhlapo, CEO of the African Rail Industry Association, explains more: 

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