A stinging letter sent to Transnet CEO Maria Ramos by staffers attacking her “uncompromising” leadership style throws light on the current management shake-out and the internal resistance Ramos faces in her bid to revamp the parastatal.
The letter, which includes 15 questions to Ramos about her management decisions, was sent by staff members under the pseudonym Ms Uekermann. Together with Ramos’s response, it was posted on the company’s intranet at the end of last year.
It begins: “Over the past year she [Ramos] has communicated with employees three times only: once to remind them of their civil duty to vote in the local elections, the second time to inform them that she has accepted responsibility for the SAA fiasco on their behalf, and that as a result thereof they would not be receiving any payments in terms of the their performance incentive contracts”.
“The third time that she made the effort to communicate was to tell the employees that she is a tough cookie who is not scared of the [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration] or the labour courts and that she is ready and willing to spend a lot of money fighting employees at these forums.”
Ramos took the helm at the beleaguered transport utility a year ago with a mandate from President Thabo Mbeki to rationalise the company to bolster economic growth. Part of her approach is to overhaul the head office staff structure to reverse the R6,3-billion loss Transnet posted in the 2003/04 financial year.
The parastatal employs 76Â 000 people, including 500 at its head office in Johannesburg’s Carlton Centre.
Over the past six months several senior managers have resigned. Some insiders blame them drain of senior personnel on Ramos’s “uncompromising leadership style”, while other criticism has taken on a racial tinge.
Duma Gqubule, a black economic empowerment analyst, described it as a “purge of black talent”. “There is a perception out there that this is a racial purge. Nowhere in the world has this kind of slash-and-burn management approach delivered results. There is a difference between creative destruction and destructive destruction,” he said.
The letter about Ramos’s management style asks, among other things:
whether Ramos refuses to talk to Transnet’s top 50 employees, and that when questioned on this by Transnet board members, she replied: “If I wanted to play politics I would have stayed on at the National Treasury”;
why she claimed there was no money to pay performance incentives when the new Transnet board spent three days conferring at Cape Town’s Mount Grace Hotel, “instead of making use of one of the excellent conference facilities owned by the company”;
given her statements about the CCMA and the labour courts, whether she considers herself above the law and has denied employees the protection afforded them under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act;
whether numerous senior managers have been sitting at home for almost six months with benefits, without being charged with misconduct;
whether “she is actively trying to frustrate senior employees to such an extent that they resign on their own account”, saving the company retrenchment packages.
Ramos’s response to the letter focused on her gargantuan task of putting the company back on track.
“Transnet is in the process of large scale change which has been communicated extensively to stakeholders both internally and externally. Given this scenario, it is to be expected that some employees are feeling uncertain and vulnerable and to some extent disaffected,” she wrote.
“Avenues have been made available to staff via the company’s intranet, so that they can ask questions regarding the company’s strategy … Change requires competence and commitment … those who cannot make a contribution, who are incompetent or lack integrity, will not feel comfortable in the new Transnet.”
Resignations under Ramos
Andre Viljoen, CEO South African Airways
Sindi Mabaso, Transnet chief financial officer
Riah Phiyega, Transnet group executive for corporate services
Dolly Mokgatle, CEO Spoornet
Althat Emmamally, Spoornet finance general manager
Ziyanda Danana, Transnet human resources executive