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Former Minister Malusi Gigaba has been formally charged as the fifth accused in a corruption case involving former Transnet executives, at the Palm Ridge Court on Tuesday.
This comes after the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) issued Dr Gigaba with summons on 7 November, to appear at the Specialised Commercial Crime Court, to which he agreed to present himself, wherein his matter is combined with that of the other accused.
According to Henry Mamothame, IDAC Spokesperson, Dr Gigaba’s court appearance relates to a period between November 2010 to May 2014, when the alleged offences were committed during his tenure as the Minister in the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
“He is charged together with Anoj Singh, the former Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO), Brian Molefe, the former Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Transnet, Siyabonga Gama, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Thamsanqa Jiyane who was the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) in the Transport Freight Rail (TFR) division within Transnet.
“The accused’s court appearance emanates from the period in which Transnet engaged in the process of acquiring locomotives to expand and modernise the country’s rail infrastructure.
“During this period the tender processes were flouted, and three contracts were irregularly awarded to provide Transnet with 95, 100 and 1064 locomotives in three different contracts, resulting in a loss of billions of rands for Transnet,” he explained.
Accused handed charge sheet
The State alleges that, during the period that Dr Gigaba was the DPE Minister, he on various occasions allegedly accepted and received undisclosed amounts of cash from members of the Gupta family which are corrupt in nature, and which he was not entitled to.
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All the accused were presented with an updated charge sheet.
The matter was postponed to 30 January 2026 for the disclosure of the docket, as well as the provision of an indictment, and a date for the transfer of the case to the high court.