Former North West premier and struggle activist Popo Molefe has been named as the chairman of the interim Transnet board‚ a move which Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan hoped would bring stability to the troubled parastatal.

Molefe will be joined on the board by Louis Zeuner‚ Ramasela Ganda‚ Ursula Fikelepi‚ Edward Kieswetter and Dimakatso Matshoga.

In a statement issued on Monday night‚ Gordhan said: “Transnet is facing serious allegations of maladministration and corruption. The previous board has not demonstrated appreciation of the seriousness of issues at hand or the ability to deal with these decisively in order to protect the entity in the interest of South Africans.”

He added that more was expected of directors of the country’s state-owned companies.

“We have to hold directors of SOCs to a high standard of corporate governance and accountability and to protect the assets of the State‚” said Gordhan.

Seth Radebe‚ Potso Mathekga and Zainul Nagdee‚ the last three remaining previous Transnet board members‚ were removed from their posts.