Minister of Transport Barabara Creecy before a Standing Committee on Public Accounts meeting in Parliament. (Photographer: Phando Jikelo / Parliament of SA) 
State Capture and privatisation were keywords during a Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) meeting over the finances of three state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on Tuesday, 22 October 2024, during an appearance by Transport Minister Barbara Creecey.
After a salvo of questions, it was David Skosana, an MP from the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, who said he believed the State Capture Commission report was not “binding” and that 11 people had taken the report on review.
Skosana and the MK party have throughout their tenure in Parliament sought to make comments and questions which either dispute or simply revise the country’s history of State Capture, especially when it comes to the party’s president and former state president Jacob Zuma.
Read more: What is the MK party’s game in Parliament?
They played the same tune on Tuesday.
First was the MK party’s Thalente Kubheka, who claimed that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was being defunded – despite bailouts provided by the Treasury.
He said: “We’ve got derailments all over the country because Prasa has been deliberately sabotaged and we know that it’s been deliberately sabotaged. If you ask that who has been managing the downfall of these entities… And where are they now? They are still enjoying cushy jobs where they sit.”
The country’s rail agency has been the site of capture for years due to sustained ill-governance and maladministration. The Zondo commission on State Capture even recommended that another commission examine why Prasa was allowed to fail.
Read more: Chief Justice calls for special commission to investigate Prasa’s implosion
Not once did Kubheka mention one of the people key to the downfall of Prasa – its former CEO Lucky Montana, who is now an MK MP who is also on the transport oversight committee, which oversees Prasa.
Kubheka turned to what he described as the privatisation of SOEs. “We need to know and we need to have people’s heads roll, people who have been doing this deliberately,” said Kubheka.
“Unfortunately, some of them are no longer with us, people who knew exactly what they were doing… and I think everyone here knows what I’m talking about,” he said.
Skosana was more vocal about privatisation and who was allegedly to blame. He proclaimed loudly, “In fact, in all the state institutions, which used to be a part and parcel of the Department of Public Enterprises, the person who messed up, this was Pravin Gordhan.”
Gordhan, who stood against the apartheid regime and would later become the country’s finance minister, died recently. Gordhan also stood against State Capture, resulting in Zuma axing him as finance minister in 2017.
Tall trains ‘gossip’
Skosana said: “That issue of tall trains was a gossip… They [have] driven that narrative to the media, misleading the public because they wanted us to believe about this State Capture.”
The “tall trains” are those exposed by Daily Maverick’s Pieter Louis Myburgh, who relayed how corrupt contracts were given to front companies for trains that have been proven unfit for the South African rail network.
The deal has been ventilated several times by not only the Zondo commission, but in various court cases aimed at recouping the losses the rail agency suffered.
“They are using them as we speak now as we speak here. They are using those, those so-called tall trains,” said Skosana.
He also questioned why the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was investigating alleged corruption at Prasa, including deals made under Montana’s leadership, following a presidential proclamation in February 2024.
Prasa, Transnet, SAA recovery
During the briefing, Creecey told the committee that Prasa was seeking to fill vacancies of senior officials by the end of November. At Transnet, there were now daily war rooms where “the organisation coordinates all efforts towards a common goal of logistics improvement” to enhance the tonnage carried on the coal and ore corridors.
Read more: Transnet is still losing money — its recovery is set for the long haul
On SAA, she said: “As it stands, SAA is debt-free and not looking for additional funding from National Treasury. The airline is in discussion with financial institutions regarding a loan facility should any difficulties arise.”
In response to the several issues raised on privatisation, to which the MK party and EFF were vehemently opposed during the meeting, Creecey simply stated that she was opposed to privatisation as enterprises such as Prasa and Transnet played a “developmental” role and added “value to the South African economy”.
After the meeting, a statement by Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi said the impacts of funding challenges were significant.
It emerged during the meeting that Prasa needed a R120-billion injection to get back to pre-Covid-19 levels of operation. Transnet needed between R100-billion and R120-billion to reach a healthy financial level.
“The impact of funding challenges is profound. For Prasa commuters, it means far fewer trains can run on the same line because there is no electronic signalling equipment, which can double the time it takes to complete each journey.
“Transnet’s problems mean tonnages have dropped precipitously, leading to penalties, delays at ports and extensive damage to the road network resulting from increasing trucking volumes,” said Zibi.
“The government needs to respond and act with urgency, and ensure the funding is available,” he said. DM