Transnet's Big Four are collared

The anti-corruption directorate brings 32 charges against Molefe, Singh, Gama and Jiyane.

- By Ferial Haffajee

Fourteen years ago, there was no stopping the Transnet Big Four executives - CEO Brian Molefe, his CFO Anoj Singh, the head of freight rail Siyabonga Gama and chief engineer Thamsanqa Jiyane.

As the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture heard, the four were all powerful mandarins of the state corporation. They did not defer to the board, nor Transnet's treasury, nor to its bid adjudication committees, as they rushed through a locomotive acquisition that would ultimately cost SA billions of rands in inflated costs and multiple times more in lost opportunities as rail went to the wall.

Now they face 32 charges contained in a charge sheet brought against them by the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) as it gets to grips with prosecuting the State Capture cases at the rail utility.

The charge sheet reveals that Idac has alleged fraud, corruption and violations of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and the Companies Act against the four, and the trial is set to begin in October.