A senior Transnet executive has been put on special leave following a News24 report on a R10 million tender the state-owned company awarded to the executive’s former boss.<\/p>\n
Transnet confirmed on Wednesday that Sandile Simelane, the head of Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) corporate affairs department, was placed on special leave pending an investigation into the tender in question.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month News24 revealed that TFR had awarded a R10 million tender to a company owned by Simelane’s former boss at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).<\/p>\n
Transnet insiders have alleged that Simelane played a key role in helping his former boss’s company secure the lucrative contract.<\/p>\n
The company, Casterbridge Consulting, was paid R400,000 a month over a period of two years for “stakeholder management services” related to Transnet’s Swaziland Rail Link project.<\/p>\n
The company has no business premises or website and it apparently communicated with Transnet using a Gmail account.<\/p>\n
When pressed for proof of the work Casterbridge Consulting did for TFR, neither Transnet nor the company’s owner, Sandile Madolo, could provide any material.<\/p>\n
A Transnet insider claimed that Casterbridge was paid R400,000 each month, regardless of whether it had done any work or not.<\/p>\n
“Transnet has instituted an investigation relating to a contract that was awarded for the provision of stakeholder management services for the Swazi Rail project,” said Mike Asefovitz, a TFR spokesperson.<\/p>\n
“Mr Sandile Simelane has been put on special leave to allow for the process to take its course,” added Asefovitz.<\/p>\n