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Publication

SUNDAY TIMES EXPRESS

Page

4

Date

Sun 07 Oct 2018

AVE (ZAR)

77502.48

Transnet bossdigs in heelsagainstfiringGama defies boardbid to sack him overfinancial irregularitiesBy ZINGISA MVUMVU

& TransnetCEO SiyabongaGamais refusingto stepdown from the logisticsutility, argu-ing that the company 'sboardhasno authori-ty to removehim.

Instead, Gama has come out stronglyagainstthe Transnetboard's plan to fire him,giving them until the end of businesshourson Tuesdayto drop the idea.

This is the latest chapter in a tit-for-tatbattlebetween Gamaand the board follow-ing damaging findings against him over ten-der irregularities at Transnet involving bil-lionsofrands. ese

In a letter sent on Friday to __Transnet chair Popo Molefe,President Cyril Ramaphosaand public enterprises minis-ter Pravin Gordhan, Gama -through lawyers - is arguingthat the board is jumping the |gun by asking him to explain |why he should not be firedwhen they had not responded |to his representations filed inAugustin responseto a noticeofsuspension.

"The termination letter does not makeany referenceto the letter of suspension[or]our client's response to the letter of suspen-sionreferred to above.The termination letterconstitutesa repudiation of the letter of sus-pension," reads the letter.

Gama was responding to the Transnetboard letter sent to him last week in whichhe was asked to provide reasons why heshouldnot be fired. ::

TheTransnetboardwants Gamaremovedfromthe utility afterseveral investigativere-portsfingeredhim over allegedirregularitieswhich saw the costof procuring 1,064 loco-motivesballooningfromR38.6bnto morethan R49bn.

The bid to remove Gama stems from aninvestigation by law firms Werksmans andMNSAttorneys, aswell asthe NationalTrea-sury, of the purchaseofthe locomotivesfromGeneral Electric, Bombardier Transport,China South Rail and China NorthRail.

The board also wants Gama to repayabout Rl5im in overpayments to Gupta-linked consultancyfirm RegimentsCapital.

Siyabonga Gama

But Gama is digging in his heels, sayingthe board hasno power to remove him andonly the cabinetcandoso,throughGordhan,in termsofhis employmentcontract.

"Our client made it clear that should therelevant authority make a decision to sus-pend him, he will declarea dispute in termsofhis employmentcontract.The relevantau-thority is the appointing authority responsi-ble for appointing CEs of organsof stateorSOCs [state-owned companies]. "

Gamaalsosaid, through his lawyers, thathe intended to hold individual board mem-bers personally liable for potential legalcosts as their action against him was notlegally sound.

"Our instruction is to demandaswe here-by do that the board withdraw the letter oftermination within 48 hours after receipt ofthis letter, failing which our client will ap-proach a court of law on an urgent basisandask for costsof an attorney and client scale

from each boardmember per- |sonally asthe fiscuscannotbemuletedwith costsrelating toa matter where the legal posi-tion is trite."

Gama claims he called forthe investigation into the pro-curement of the locomotivesand has been co-operatingwith investigatorssince.

"Our client was not in-volved with the negotiationsand/or adjudication of . the1,064 locomotivesand assuch

he could not have prevented an award ornon-awar d of the tender," his lawyers toldMolefe.

Molefehad not responded to repeated re-quests for comment at the time of going toprint.

Gama's lawyers also declined to speakpublicly about thematter.

But, speaking for himself, Gama saidMolefeandtheboardwereoutto.tarnishhis!"good name".

"It is thereforemy view that the boardhassought to wrongly characteriseme in orderfor them to createa negative,albeit an incor-rect, narrative about me, besmirching mygoodname.

"I want to assureTransnetemployeesthatall that is being said about me goesagainstwhat they know about me and thereforecannot be correct.Many of them have calledme expressing their unwavering support.Your trust in me is not misplaced. On thecorrect platform I shall ensure that I protectmy reputation andmy namewith everythingthat I have."