Gama to appeal against disciplinary finding
Suspended Transnet Freight Rail chief executive Siyabonga Gama is preparing to launch a court action to have the disciplinary process that found him guilty of breaking procurement rules set aside, says a report in The Sunday Independent.
Gama's decision followed shortly after Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan told Parliament that Transnet would, as an appropriate sanction, seek to fire Gama. Gama, according his lawyer Themba Langa, is now preparing to launch a court action on the basis that the disciplinary hearing was unfair. Gama will claim that Advocate Mark Antrobus SC had done work for Transnet. If Gama had known, Langa said, he would have asked for Antrobus' recusal. The report notes Gama will also launch an internal appeal to have the ruling set aside on the basis that he was not found guilty of gross misconduct that should result in a dismissal. Gama was found guilty of irregularly authorising the awarding of contracts including one to General Nyanda Security, a company owned by Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda. Full report in The Sunday Independent (subscription needed)