[miningmx.com] – TRANSNET nominated its freight rail (TFR) boss, Siyabonga Gama, its acting CEO while incumbent Brian Molefe worked to deliver Eskom from its operating woes in which a third of its generating capacity has been out of service.
Mboniso Sigonyela, spokesman for Transnet, said the secondment would last for a three month period although there’s an expectation that public enterprises minister, Lynne Brown, will ask Molefe to stay on for much longer.
Brown told BDLive that she intended for Molefe would stay at Eskom for a year and also suggested that he would become the permanent CEO of the stricken power utility while its incumbent, the suspended Tshediso Matona, was handed “a title” in the group.
“Brian will be here and we’ll find a way for Tshediso to work with him; we’ll give him (Mr Matona) some other title or something,” Brown told BDLive. Molefe earlier told Business Times that his immediate concern was stopping load-shedding at Eskom.
Asked if he would take up the position at Eskom permanently, he said: “”We’ll cross that bridge when we get there”.
Transnet, however, still believed Molefe – who has overseen a three-year turnaround at the transport and logistics firm after joining it from the Public Investment Corporation – would return to the group.
“We wish to advise that Siyabonga Gama, CEO of TFR and the longest-serving member of the executive team, will act as Transnet’s Group CEO with immediate effect,” said Transnet in a statement.
“The decision follows Brian Molefe’s secondment to the role of CE) at our sister company, Eskom,” the transport and logistics company said. Gama would “… assume all the responsibilities of the GCE (Group Chief Exeutive) for the duration of Molefe’s secondment”, it added.
The appointment of Gama as GCE represents a remarkable reversal in fortunes – an improvement largely down to Molefe who brought Gama back to Transnet in 2011 after a period following his suspension following governence breaches.
It was found by an independent investigation, however, that Gama was not guilty of dishonesty or corruption during his previous tenure as CEO of TFR.
