Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has reinforced government’s stance that corruption will not be tolerated in all spheres of the public sector.
This after the arrest and court appearance of high ranking Transnet executives, Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh, together with two other people.
The four appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on charges relating to the multi-million rand Transnet locomotives tender scandal dating back to 2012.
“Now that the former Transnet executives [have been] arrested and appeared in court, it is a signal that government will not tolerate corruption and fraud at our state-owned enterprises, including the public sector.
“The department has long held the view that those that conspired and were associated with the state capture project to damage our SOEs should be brought to book to account for their actions. There are no long fake news narratives to avoid accountability. We are now waiting for the state to prove its case so that we can finally see people being locked up,” Gordhan said.
The department said the fight against corruption and state capture is to be commended.
“The department welcomes the latest high profile names added to the charge sheet, as the damage inflicted on our SOEs is still felt today which deprived many South Africans of the much needed services that are provided by fully functional state entities.
“The road to fix the damage left by former executives to our SOEs has been hard and frustrating, punctuated by denialism and the fake news narrative and misinformation campaigns. However, we have worked diligently to ensure we turn around the SOEs so that they become instruments of transformation and provide the much needed services to all South Africans,” the department said.
The accused in the matter are expected back in court in October with warrants of arrests issued for two more suspects.