YCL calls on Barbra Hogan to act on the Siyabonga Gama saga
"We call on the immediate dropping of charges, appointment of Gama as GCEO of Transnet, removal of the entire board and action (not just words) from Minister of Public Enterprises".
The Young Communist League of SA (uFasimba) joins the fraternal and Alliance organisations that have already called on the immediate appointment of Siyabonga Gama as Group CEO of Transnet. We wish to specifically call on the Minister of Public Enterprise to act immediately and stop using the board as a scapegoat for not effecting the appointment. It is disappointing that when she addressed the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) yesterday she chose to "wait and see" when she has the powers to act now before matters get worse in the entity.
In the past the decision to appoint heads of parastatals and SOE's lied squarely in the hands of cabinet. We are left to wonder as to what this reliance on the current board seeks to serve if not to delay Gama's ascendance to the GCEO position, and also to suggest that Hogan may be part of the conspiracy abound against Gama.
We are aware that certain individuals who used to serve in the senior management of Transnet have conspired with the current board and the former Chairperson to concord charges against Gama as a strategy to prevent his appointment. We are also reliably informed that Gama was the most competent and immediate successor to the former Group Chief Executive Maria Ramos based on his experience in all the division of Transnet, and that his name was recommended to then Minister of Public Enterprise, Bridgette Mabandla, for appointment.
We therefore call on cabinet, which is meeting today, to instruct Hogan to drop the charges against Gama as they constitute a witch-hunt, and to immediately appoint him as GCEO. If indeed Gama is being charged as Chief Accounting Officer, then the real person who should be going to court is Maria Ramos as all the charges against Gama happened under her leadership.
We further call on the immediate removal of the Transnet Board as it has failed in its fiduciary duties, undermined its own regulations and policies, relied on falsehood in order to execute decisions, and has basically become the puppet of a few individuals who seeks control of Transnet even when their time in the entity has lapsed.
It is difficult not to believe that Gama is being persecuted because his appointment threatens the financial and political interests of other people. The time is now that Transnet should be focusing on the country's developmental role and agenda, and stop stalling the appointment of competent people.
Statement issued by Buti Manamela, Young Communist League national secretary, September 16 2009
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