Mungo Soggot
IN a bid to become more transparent and accountable, Transnet has appointed three ombudsmen to handle complaints from employees, customers and business partners. They are chairman Louise Tager, general manager of auditing Nigel Payne and non-executive director Magamola Nana.
Tager this week dismissed the suggestion that the appointment of three top company officials defeated the point of having ombudsmen, arguing that she and her two colleagues were not directly involved in the running of the transport parastatal. “It is the start of a process of change. There is nothing sinister about it.”
Tager — who has spearheaded a shake-up of the parastatal’s top management, which has included a dramatic affirmative action drive — said the ombudsmen would examine complaints from, for example, companies dissatisfied with Transnet’s tender procedures.
A Transnet representative said the ombudsmen would be particularly useful for employees who were victims of sexual harassment. He welcomed the move, saying it was a break from the parastatal’s old, autocratic management style.
Under the old regime, all the aggrieved could do was to try to contact the managing director. Transnet was such a huge, sprawling operation it was crucial that there was a way of voicing grievances quickly and efficiently.
Meanwhile, Tager batted off the suggestion that the appointment of six new executive directors without advertising the posts had been improper. The original legislation governing Transnet allowed the government to appoint board members directly, she said. The new board members include former parliamentary posts, telecommunications and broadcasting chairman Saki Macozama, who is being groomed to succeed managing director Anton Moolman.
Tager, who is understood to have clashed with Moolman on several occasions since her appointment last year, recently said she would not push for the privatisation of Transnet, stressing there were many changes to be pushed through before a sale of the whole parastatal could be considered.
However, Transnet’s road transport division, Autonet, and a slice of South African Airways is expected to come under the hammer shortly as part of the government’s first wave of sell-offs.
l Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau has shortlisted eight candidates to advise the government on privatisation and is expected to finally announce the chosen one, after many months of delay, any day now.