LISTEN | Unionist name drops Gordhan in battle with Transnet bosses

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan has condemned what he calls "attempts to use his name for nefarious agendas" in the power battles at Transnet.

In a statement released by his department on Wednesday, Gordhan said he was disappointed his name was dragged into the Transnet power struggle. He was reacting to a Sowetan report about a meeting between SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) leadership and Transnet management, held in September last year, which addressed the company's performance.

In the meeting, which was recorded, Satawu accused Transnet of wanting to privatise the business. The union also accused Transnet of buying generators, which it said are white elephants.

Satawu's Sihle Nguse could be heard saying unions were refusing to be part of an agenda that could lead to the privatisation of the maritime business. He then threatened to tell Gordhan to fire then Transnet group CEO Portia Derby and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) CEO Pepi Silinga for failing in their responsibilities to lead the entity.

Nguse said Satawu would meet Gordhan the following day to tell him to fire Silinga and Derby.

“Our strength is outside: to mobilise politicians and deployed individuals. Tomorrow, Pravin will know about this. We are going to tell PG. Pepi, we are meeting PG tomorrow and that is the first item we will start with. We will tell PG to fire Pepi and Portia and the rest of you can resign on your own. We are saying the board must do the honourable thing and speed up the process of firing people who are incompetent, who just come here and speak nice English," said Nguse. 

“Most of you must just do the honourable thing, introspection and resign. It's painful because the majority of managers here are black and are scared to tell truth to power because Pepi will call them sell-outs.”

Closing the meeting, Nguse said: “Iyehla maqabane... Some of you by the end of next week sizokotha ilanga sonke [unemployed]. All the best to those who will survive izembe (an axe) and hard luck to those who brought us to where we are.”

Derby quit 10 days after that meeting and, last month, Silinga took leave amid allegations of corruption brought against him by Satawu and being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). 

Reacting to his name being dropped, Gordhan said he denounced the attempts to “mislead the public and deflect attention” from an ongoing investigation into procurement processes at TNPA.

He also confirmed having met Satawu and the United National Transport Union (Untu) in September last year to discuss matters relating to the freight and logistics sector.

“No individual or organisation has a right to use the minister’s name for their nefarious agendas...There was no truth to the claims being peddled in the media that a union could have the power to sway him to get involved in matters that are the remit of the board of Transnet. Minister Gordhan does not take instructions from unions.

“Neither the department of public enterprises nor the minister gets involved in any procurement processes as that is a responsibility of the board. To suggest otherwise is mischievous and outright scandalous.”

Meanwhile, Untu also released a statement on Wednesday, calling for the SIU and Transnet to investigate allegations by Silinga that Satawu had tried to put pressure on the entity to award a tender to a company that would financially benefit the union.