By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has welcomed the arrest and court appearance of former Transnet executives Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh on charges related to fraud of R398.4 million along with corruption.
It says the damage inflicted on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is still felt at present and has deprived many South Africans of integral services that are provided by fully functional state entities
This comes after Molefe and Singh – the former group CEO and former CFO of Transnet, respectively – appeared in the dock, together with Regiments Capital directors Niven Pillay and Litha Nyhonhya on Monday (29 August).
Minister Pravin Gordhan says the arrests assert that government will not tolerate corruption and fraud at SOEs and in 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.