By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has announced Michelle Phillips as Transnet’s Group Chief Executive Officer, and Nosipho Maphumulo as Group Chief Financial Officer.
“These are critical appointments which represent our steadfast commitment as government to equip Transnet with a competent and experienced executive leadership team to drive the strategic interventions that the board has put in place as part of the Transnet recovery plan,” Gordhan said.
Gordhan said there had been improvements in the performance of ports and rails while she was acting.
He said Phillips had a track record of being a team player and collaborator to achieve business objectives. She has more than 20 years’ experience in Transnet in various roles.
Phillips replaces Portia Derby, who quit in September last year after a three-year stint mired in turmoil, disappointment and dysfunction.
Rail export volumes have fallen from a high of 213 million tons in 2018/2019 to 149 million tons in the last financial year. A lack of basic controls and outdated systems contributed to the company achieving only 25% of its targets in the past financial year.
The logistical problems caused by Transnet’s railway lines are now costing the country an average of R1 billion per day.
After starting her career in the Special Investigation Unit as a forensic investigator, Phillips joined Transnet in 2001 as a manager at the National Ports Authority.
Following managerial positions at Transnet Port Terminals and at the Durban container terminal, she was appointed as general manager of customer growth and freight solutions at Transnet in 2017.
In 2020, she became CEO of Transnet Pipelines.
Gordhan said that at the time, Transnet Pipelines was hit by poor governance, theft, spillage and poor performance, which Phillips managed to turn around.
Meanwhile the parliamentary portfolio committee responsible for overseeing the Department of Public Enterprises is at loggerheads with Gordhan – primarily over key documents relating to the sale of a 51% stake in South African Airways (SAA) that is in the pipeline.
Tensions flared in the lead-up to and during the committee’s meeting with the minister on February 28.
The meeting was around accusations of impropriety leveled against the minister regarding the shortlisting of Takatso as SAA’s preferred strategic equity partner as well as the sale contracts – with both parties reportedly accusing one another of “bullying”.
Last week, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Khayalethu Magaxa, wrote a scathing letter to Gordhan – responding to several claims and requests made by the minister for the committee’s meetings.
The letter slammed an alleged absence of access to certain documents, the minister’s desire for MPs to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and his request for the committee meeting to be held in private.
One of the most contentious issues was Gordhan’s request for all MPs involved to sign NDAs.
“Members of Parliament serve at the behest of the people of South Africa and cannot be muzzled on matters of public interest,” said Magaxa.
The chairperson said that the information that the committee is requesting “not for personal gain, but for a legitimate public purpose.”
“The committee will not agree to a Non-Disclosure Agreement whose terms are only known to you as this would amount to unjustified suspension of the constitution…. [and] cannot be expected to keep quiet and walk away where there is evidence of malfeasance in the transaction under review” he added.
The Takatso transaction has been controversial since it was announced by Gordhan in June 2021, indicating that the company would acquire 51% of SAA for R51.
It would, however, make an injection of R3 billion over three years in the form of a repayable shareholder loan.
The terms of the evaluation caused speculation about whether the state would receive fair value for the airline that was grounded for two years due to business rescue and the pandemic.
Gordhan announced that another valuation exercise would be conducted in September 2023, but neither assessment has been made public.