Finance minister dragged into R53.9m Gautrain payment storm

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has been dragged into a battle over an alleged R53.9m debt involving the Gautrain Management Agency, with a staffing company seeking court orders that could bring the government’s financial-management machinery into the dispute.

Fempower Personnel has approached the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg demanding that Gautrain pay R53.9m, together with interest at 11.75% per annum.

Godongwana, transport minister Barbara Creecy and the National Treasury have been cited as respondents alongside Gautrain, the Gauteng department of roads and transport and transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela.

The case was filed on August 26 and at the heart of the dispute is Fempower’s claim that it is owed more than R53m by the Gautrain Management Agency. The company wants the court to turn that alleged debt into a court-enforceable obligation.

The presence of the senior government officials in the litigation raises the stakes of what might otherwise have remained a dispute between a service provider and the Gautrain agency.

Fempower’s notice of motion refers to the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury Regulation 8.2.3 and seeks an order requiring payment within 30 days after the granting of the court order.

The regulation, which mandates that all government departments must settle payments due to creditors within 30 days from receiving a valid invoice, is designed to protect suppliers, especially small businesses, from detrimental cash flow delays caused by state institutions.

The wording of the relief sought puts the alleged Gautrain debt within a broader question about the handling of payments by public entities.

Fempower’s case is that the court should intervene and compel the payment.

The company’s application, however, also reveals that the payment dispute had been the subject of correspondence between Fempower and Gautrain officials before the matter reached court.

One of the documents attached to the application is correspondence concerning Fempower invoices and a statement.

In an email dated August 4 2025, Gautrain official Lerato Mokoena asked Fempower for an update on payment.

“Please provide an update with regards to payment?”

The email was headed “Re: Fempower — Invoices and statement”.

Another email, dated July 28 2025, refers to an internal process involving a variation request.

Mokoena told Fempower that the process was still under way and acknowledged delays within Gautrain.

“There have been some delays internally that affected this process,” the email read. She then asked the company to give Gautrain more time.

“Please grant us an extension by a week or so.”

The most striking aspect of the application, however, is what Fempower wants to happen if Gautrain does not comply.

The company wants the court to allow it to supplement its founding papers and seek further relief that could result in Gautrain being placed under administration in terms of section 100 of the constitution.

This means the dispute potentially extends beyond a conventional claim for payment.

The application was brought by Hunts Incorporated Attorneys on behalf of Fempower Personnel and is supported by an affidavit from Joslin Simmons and accompanying annexures.

The court papers do not, in the material available, provide a detailed breakdown of the R53.9m figure.

That leaves an important question for the litigation: precisely which invoices, services or contractual obligations make up the amount Fempower says Gautrain owes it?

According to the notice, a respondent intending to oppose must deliver a notice of intention to oppose within 10 days of service, followed by an answering affidavit within 15 days after notifying Fempower of the intention to oppose. Fempower is also seeking its legal costs.

For now, the central question is whether Gautrain disputes Fempower’s claim to the R53.9m and, if so, what explanation it will place before the court.

The case could therefore provide a window into how the dispute over the alleged R53.9m arose, why the payment process was delayed and whether Gautrain contests the amount being claimed.