Malusi Gigaba faces corruption charges alongside former Transnet executives

Former public enterprises minister, Dr Malusi Gigaba, who also serves as co-chair of Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence, appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday facing a charge of corruption.

Gigaba, an ANC Member of Parliament, faces corruption charges relating to three Transnet contracts he signed during his tenure as public enterprises minister.

Authorities are investigating wide-scale corruption in Transnet SOC Ltd’s multi-billion-rand locomotive procurement deal.

Earlier this month, IOL reported that Gigaba visited the offices of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) in Lynnwood, Pretoria East. At that time IDAC confirmed he had not been placed under arrest, and that there would be no court appearance that day.

The visit marked a further step in the National Prosecuting Authority’s efforts to investigate individuals implicated in large-scale state-capture era corruption involving state-owned entities.

The investigation centres on irregular procurement contracts awarded during Gigaba’s tenure as minister between 2010 and 2014, including a controversial approximately R54 billion locomotive deal.

Following the court appearance on Tuesday, IDAC spokesperson Henry Mamothame told reporters that Gigaba faces a charge of corruption alongside four former Transnet executives, Brian Molefe, Siyabonga Gama, Anoj Singh, and Thamsanqa Jiyane. In June, IOL reported that the quartet was released on R50,000 bail each following alleged corruption linked to the Guptas.

"Dr Gigaba’s court appearance relates to a period between November 2010 to May 2014, when the alleged offences were committed during his tenure as the Minister in the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). He is charged together with Anoj Singh, the former Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO), Brian Molefe, the former Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Transnet, Siyabonga Gama, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Thamsanqa Jiyane who was the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) in the Transport Freight Rail (TFR) division within Transnet," said Mamothame.

"The accused’s court appearance emanates from the period in which Transnet engaged in the process of acquiring locomotives to expand and modernise the country’s rail infrastructure, during which the tender processes were flouted, and three contracts were irregularly awarded to provide Transnet with 95, 100 and 1064 locomotives in three different contracts, resulting in a loss of billions of rands for Transnet.

"The State alleges that, during the period that Dr Gigaba was the Minister of DPE, he on various occasions allegedly accepted and received undisclosed amounts of cash from members of the Gupta family which are corrupt in nature, and which he was not entitled to. All the accused were presented with an updated charge sheet," said Mamothame.

The matter was postponed to 30 January 2026 for the disclosure of the docket, as well as the provision of an indictment, and a date for the transfer of the case to the high court.

Cape Times