WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM
SUSPENDED Transnet executive director Joe Ndhlela was sacked on Tuesday at a board meeting which described him as guilty of acts of “gross misconduct” — including bugging his secretary’s phone.
Ndhlela was suspended on full pay in September last year amid allegations that he hired a security firm to spy on other executives, that he failed to disclose commissions of R750 000 for implementing a workers’ funeral benefit scheme, and that he authorised large payments to two recruitment companies for services never rendered.
An internal inquiry headed by retired judge John Trengrove found Ndhlela guilty of most of the charges. The 39-page Trengrove report was submitted to the transport parastatal’s board meeting on Tuesday, where the decision was made to fire him.
The bugging affair, one of a string of scandals to hit Transnet in the past two years, was first exposed a year ago in the Mail & Guardian.
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