Johannesburg – Former Transnet senior staffers Brian Molefe, Siyabonga Gama, Anoj Singh, and engineer Thamsanqa Jiyane have been arrested on suspicion of fraud involving R93 million.
The four accused appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 30 June 2025, accused of a double payment of R93 million linked to the procurement of 1 064 locomotives.
At the time of the alleged crimes, Molefe was Group CEO of Transnet, Gama CEO, Singh CFO, and Jiyane was the Chief Procurement Officer.
They are facing 18 charges that include the Contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), fraud, corruption and the Contravention of the Companies Act.
These charges relate to Transnet’s strategic plans in 2011 to actively create capacity, giving rise to their Market Demand Strategy (MDS).
The focus of the MDS was to expand and modernise the country’s port, rail and pipeline infrastructure over a period of seven years, with its focus being on capturing rail-friendly freight from road to rail.
During the process of acquiring locomotives to expand and modernize the country’s rail infrastructure, the accused allegedly flouted the tender process by irregularly appointing a Chinese company, CSR, to provide the 95 locomotives that did not qualify.
Other allegations were that due processes were not followed so as to advantage CNR.
In the end, a bid, which was costed at a little over R3,2 billion, allegedly exceeded its contract value by over R231 million, resulting in a payment of over R3,4 billion.
There were two other bids relating to the acquisition of 100 and then 1064 locomotives were procured again with CNR due to the alleged flouting of processes by the accused.
Allegations are that the 100 locomotives, which initially cost R3.8 billion, were inflated to R4.8 billion, and the 1064 locomotives costing R38,1 billion were hiked to R54 billion.
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.
They, however, are alleged to have enabled and ensured that costs were inflated and that their preferred bidder was unduly advantaged.
IDAC Spokesperson Henry Mamothame said this matter was a state capture matter.
The State Capture Commission inquiry exposed how billions were looted from Transnet.
The lawyers for the accused made passionate pleas for their clients to be released on bail.
All four fraud and corruption accused were granted bail of R50 000 each with stringent conditions attached by the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court, which adjourned the case to 6 October 2025.
