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Former Transnet CEO Brain Molefe.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) says two of its Members of Parliament will not be removed from Parliament after handing themselves over to police on Monday.
Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama, who are former Transnet executives, have been granted bail of R50 000 each by the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court in Ekurhuleni following tender corruption charges. The two members are in hot water with the law, over an alleged 2012 alleged fraudulent multimillion rand locomotives tender.
Molefe, served as Transnet CEO from 2011 to 2015 and Gama, who succeeded him, was fired in 2018.
At that time, some within the African National Congress and Economic Freedom Fighters had urged Gama to approach the courts to halt his axing from the company, alleging that executives at SOE’s were being cut as part of what the red berets called a narcissistic agenda of the then Minister of Public Enterprises.
MKP National Spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela says the party will act accordingly after the findings of the court.
“No, these charges reek of nothing else, but you know, a political agenda. So, we’re not going to now all of a sudden a purge our people and our members on the basis of, you know cases or should we say charges that are brought to them on the basis of you know, something that transpired when there was the Transnet and so on so forth. So, let’s await the court process to unfold and we said we respect the rule of law. Let’s allow the process to unfold and we take it from there,” says Ndhlela.
He says the latest charges against two of its members of Parliament are a targeted campaign against black professionals.
“We are also particularly alarmed at what appears to be a targeted campaign against black professionals and intellectuals, especially those affiliated with the party, who once served in strategic roles within state-owned enterprises such as Transnet. These developments are remnants of unfair treatment as experienced by our president, as widely known, who has yet to receive a legal process grounded in fairness and constitutional justice,” he adds.
Molefe, who previously also held leadership positions at the Public Investment Corporation as well as Eskom, has remained active in politics having being sworn in as a MP, last year alongside Siyanbonga Gama.
Gama once served as the President of the Union of African Railways and the President of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa.
Both men appeared at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry.
