Johannesburg - Transnet’s acting chief executive Siyabonga Gama is almost confident that his position is all but permanent.
In an exclusive interview with Business Report this week, Gama said he did not see himself as a temporary appointee and would therefore make tough executive decisions to take the logistics and rail powerhouse further.
“I do not have time to look at myself as an acting chief executive, I cannot shy away from taking decisions simply because I am acting,” Gama said.
“We are the backbone of this economy and if we fail to take decisions, we won’t be able to give the economy the boost it needs.”
Gama’s ascendancy to the helm of Transnet comes in the wake of his predecessor Brian Molefe’s secondment to the troubled power utility Eskom.
But for Gama, the most important task on his mind is to ensure that Transnet’s seven-year plan is implemented in full and that he is able to steer its cash flow into a healthy position.
“I am not going to change many of the things that are in the strategy. Perhaps swopping one thing for the other, and ensuring that our priorities are correct.”
Building capacity
Transnet’s strategy stems from President Jacob Zuma’s announcement in his State of the Nation address that the utility would invest more than R300 billion in infrastructure development to rejuvenate the economy, create jobs and address poverty and inequality.
Transnet said R200bn of this would be channelled to Transnet Freight Rail to expand its railway infrastructure to create capacity and increase cargo volumes.
The company said through this injection, Transnet Freight Rail would be able to optimise its capital portfolio, build a world-class capital execution function and leverage capital procurement and localisation.
The company committed itself to railing more than 350.3 million tons of cargo a year by 2019, when the strategy reached maturity.
Gama said the plan was still part of Transnet’s long-term outlook and that his incumbency would make sure that it was implemented in full.
“We are well within our expectations that the strategy will work. We have no choice, but to stick to its broader parameters.”
Gama, who was one of the few black executives poached by the government to join parastatals and other state-owned enterprises after the 1994 elections, joined the same year with financial experience from companies such as JP Morgan and Standard Bank.
From the 49th floor of the company’s Carlton Centre headquarters in downtown Johannesburg, Gama comes across as a seasoned executive with a crystal clear vision of what work lies ahead for Transnet.
Gama was relaxed and laughed easily throughout the interview.
Asked how he would describe himself, Gama, who turns 48 next month, said he was a keen churchgoer and played golf and visited the national parks to take time out from his pressurised job.
“The most difficult thing that I find myself doing is to talk about myself,” Gama said.
“I am a rural boy from Ebaqulusini (Dundee in KwaZulu-Natal) who wants to do something for my country.
“When people go overseas for holidays, I choose to go to Mpumalanga or the Kruger National Park to admire my country. I think there is a lot I have not seen in South Africa.”