DA calls for an urgent Parliament inquiry into the crisis at Transnet
26 September 2023
The DA has written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Khayalethu Magaxa, recommending that the Committee sets up an urgent inquiry into the crisis unfolding at Transnet with a view to developing a roadmap to recovery that would stabilize the entity, save the economy and protect jobs.
Our call has been prompted by the lack of decisive leadership from the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan and even President Cyril Ramaphosa himself, into the terminal crisis at Transnet that has essentially become an existential threat to the national economy.
Parliament must step in to fill the leadership vacuum before Transnet sends the economy over the cliff and spawns a socio-economic crisis never before seen before the dawn of democracy. We would be failing in our duty as legislators if we sit back and watch the economy go to ruins when it is clear that Ramaphosa and Gordhan are unwilling or simply unable to stop the bleeding at Transnet.
The Parliament inquiry will provide a diagnosis of what has gone wrong, the role played by pre-identified actors in perpetuating the crisis and the granular interventions that must be implemented to fix Transnet.