‘Because we don’t issue statements or tweet it doesn’t mean work isn’t done at Transnet’: Gordhan

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan says because his department is not issuing statements or posting on Twitter it does not mean it is not working to improve operational performance at Transnet. 

This week Gordhan received a public lashing from ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who told him to fix Transnet quickly or face the chop. 

“I’m going to say to Pravin Gordhan, I was with him there, I was also a minister of transport: ‘Comrade Pravin, move faster or otherwise we will move you.’”

Speaking on 702, Gordhan said there was “a lot of hard work happening behind the scenes”. 

He said his department had the political will to confront the shortcomings at Transnet.

“[Because] we do not issue statements every day, and people like me are not on Twitter, it does not mean work is not happening. There is a lot of hard work happening behind the scenes and there are limits to what each individual sector can do,” said Gordhan

“When you are trying to patch together a broken organisation where most of the money was spent illicitly on deals, it takes time, effort and a lot of courage to move out the wrong people from Transnet, but it is now on the right footing.” 

Gordhan said the new Transnet board, which includes chair Andile Sangqu, a former member of Anglo American and Tongaat executive boards, should help with addressing its issues.

“I think we have a good mixture of people who are represented on the board. With the new board, we will instil a new sense of emergency and those who want to stand in the way of change and increase transparency about the problems we have will have to be dealt with in a very emphatic kind of way,” he said.

Speaking at the recent ANC local government intervention workshop, Mbalula said Gordhan reported him to President Cyril Ramaphosa after his remarks. 

He said his comments on Gordhan were not an attack and he should not feel singled out. 

“It was not an attack. It was an illustration we need to move with speed. It was not an attack on comrade Pravin as a person,” said Mbalula. 

“I singled out an area he deals with, which is logistics and freight, and I was talking about the Reserve Bank and the repo rate, and the issue they point to is we need to move with speed with regards to logistics and freight, and we need to move with speed with regards to load-shedding. 

“We must see progress when it comes to those matters because they are a major impediment to the growth of our economy.” 

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to TimesLIVE Premium. Just R80 per month.