Transnet loses last white CEO

Transnet loses its last white CEO - the chartered-accountant Chris Wells -  and hands over this ‘temporary’ job to super-wealthy Sotho diamond mine owner Mafika Mkwanazi.

--------------

State-owned Transnet, which runs the steadily-collapsing 20,000-km railway network, has just lost its last white executive, the ex-Rhodesian chartered accountant Chris Wells, who announced that he will be quitting his job from March 2011 or as soon as a permanent replacement can be found.

His acting CEO-job will be ‘temporarily’ taken over by Mr. Mafika Mkwanazi, (pic right) who clearly doesn’t need the job: he is also the super-wealthy co-owner of one of the most high-yield diamond mines in the world, the Letseng diamond mine in the mountains of land-locked Lesotho.

---------------

Below this article are the two men’s curriculum vitae.

Since 2009, Wells was waging a valiant battle, residing over the tragic collapse of the 20,000km rail network which in 1994, still was the best-run and most crucial transport system in Africa, efficiently shipping millions of tons of food and goods throughout the sub-continent. Wells has had a very tough year with scores of aggressive labour strikes causing more than R7-billion in revenue losses and extensive damage to Transnet’s expensive stock: the black strikers were demanding the removal of all the remaining white workers from the railway system.

Wells’ resignation follows shortly after the news that Transnet’s price tag for the new fuel pipeline from Durban to Johannesburg would cost R23,4-billion – more than double the initial estimate.

------------------

Only 26 percent of grain transported by rail in 2010 – in the 1980s that was 85 percent…

South Africa’s once-proud 20,000-km railway network is in serious decline, with 3,255 km now totally unuseable. This admission was made by the country’s public enterprises Minister in parliament last month. Moreover, there are no plans to repair those closed raillines: instead the regime wants to ‘award concessions to private operators’ who are expected to reopen and maintain the lines themselves at their own cost. The Eastern Cape has the biggest problem, with  a whopping 1,202 km of closed branch-lines. South Africa’s collapsing railway system also causes much higher food-prices because it now needs to import 90% of all its wheat from off-continent through its harbours – and because of the poor railway system the grain has to be transported by road – which costs up to 30% more than by rail. http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2010/11/sa-railway-network-collapses-under-anc_24.html

At the same time when South Africa ‘s commercial agricultural sector is being destroyed by the regime’s so-named ‘land-redistribution programme’, the country now also has to import more than 90% of all its wheat from off-continent. However the country’s shocking railway infrastructure also means that most of this wheat has to be transported from the harbours by the much more expensive road-transport system. Jannie de Villiers, executive director at the Chamber of Milling, said recently that there had been “talks to privatise rail on some smaller routes, but that these lines were in “a shocking condition”, if they even existed after vandalism and theft. The chamber’s members were forced to pay 20 to 30 percent more to transport produce by road. “We may ask for two railway wagons and only get one. Then there may be no driver or no locomotive. And if the load is transported… only half arrives at its destination because the wagon door… is damaged.” These problems also contributed to rising food costs, said De Villiers. In the 1980s, 85 percent of all grain was transported by rail. At the moment, this figure stood at 26 percent. De Villiers feared that ‘South Africa would not be able to import produce in the event of severe drought because of the inadequate rail service. ‘

Cement industry spends R4billion a year on rail transport…

• ‘derailments all the time, very little maintenance…’

A representative of a cement manufacturer said the industry spent about R4 billion a year on rail transport, meaning that Transnet’s problems impacted heavily on their businesses. The motor industry was also relying more on road transport than rail, owing to both cheaper cost and better service. A representative of a company which transports vehicles by rail said Transnet “have a major problem at the moment – there are derailments all the time, and there is very little maintenance on both the lines and the trains.”

Collapsed bridge due to derailed train:

A derailment in September 2010 of a train loaded with phosphate resulted in the complete collapse of the Brakspruit Bridge, about 50km from Phalaborwa. This would “significantly” affect operations at the Phalaborwa Mining Company, said its managing director, Anthony Lennox. In fact they would not be able to ship out their products at all. 

Transnet’s black spokesmen however have blamed their problems with damaged locomotives and overall lack of capacity on apartheid: inaccurately claiming that ‘decades of infrastructure neglect and vandalism” were the cause. They deny experiencing any maintenance or operational difficulties whatsoever under the present government… http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=108&t=7631 http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-238347420.html http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/transnet-confirms-shock-surge-in-pipeline-price-tag-to-r234bn-2010-12-08

===================================

CURRICULUM VITAE OF TRANSNET CEOs –  THE NEW ONE AND THE DEPARTING ONE:

--------------

Mafika Edmund Mkwanazi
Date of Birth 31-01-1954 in Johannesburg; from Sotho parents Kenneth and Nokuthula; both pan-africanists. The official curriculum vitae says that he gained a bachelor of science degree between 1986 and 1989 from the distance-University of Natal while working in the manager unit of South African Breweries in Isando, Johannesburg. Married to Kelebogile Frieda Ramela, one son, one daughter. Father: the Pan-africanist Kenneth Mkwanazi; mother: Nokuthula
------------------------------
former jobs and current executorships:
Partner, Heidrick & Struggles, Sandton, Johannesburg (2006 - present)
Non Executive Director, Saatchi & Saatchi, Johannesburg (2005 - present)
Non Executive Chairman, Letseng diamonds, Lesotho (2003 - present)
Non-Executive Chair, Western Areas Ltd (2003 - 2005)
Director, SA Airways (1996 - 2003)
Non Executive Director: Saatchi & Saatchi, Johannesburg;

Non Executive Chairman: Letseng diamonds, Lesotho;

Director: Nedcor Bank Ltd; Partner: Heidrick & Struggles, Sandton, Johannesburg;
Non Executive Director - Saatchi & Saatchi, Johannesburg (2005 - present)
Director - Freight Logistics International Inc(1999 - 2003)
Director - Nedcor Bank Ltd (1999 - present)
Deputy Managing Director - Transnet (1998 - 2000)
Executive Director - Spoornet/SAA (1996 - 1998)
Director - SA Airways  (1996 - 2003)
Chairmanships
Non-Executive Chair - Western Areas Mining Ltd (2003 - 2005)
Non Executive Chairman - Letseng diamonds, Lesotho (2003 - present)
Partner - Heidrick & Struggles, Sandton, Johannesburg (2006 - present)
Group Chief Executive Officer - Transnet (2000 - 2003)
Chief Executive - Metro Rail Services (1995 - 1996)
Plant Manager - BMW (SA) (Pty) Ltd, Rosslyn(1992 - 1995)
Plant Manager - Bristol Myers Squibb, Wadeville(1989 - 1992)
Manager Unit - South African Breweries, Isando, Johannesburg
    (1986 - 1989)  

http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/user/1013

http://www.letsengdiamonds.co.ls/

=================================================================

Christopher Frank Wells

Date of Birth 28-09-1949, in Gwelo, then-Rhodesia, from English parents Roy Frank Wells and Olive Mary. He gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Cape Town and sat successful exams as a registered Chartered Accountant of South Africa.

Other information:

A former partner in the accounting firm Deloitte, Touche, Tohmatsu Ltd.
Former and present jobs:
Chief Executive Officer, Relyant Retail Ltd, Durban (1996 - present)
Director, McCarthy Retail Limited, (1996 - present)
Group Director Finance, McCarthy Retail Limited (1996 - 1998)
Group Director Finance, Rainbow Chicken Limited (1991 - 1996)
Chief Executive Officer: Relyant Retail Ltd, Durban; Director: McCarthy Retail Ltd.
Professional Directorships, former and current:
Director - McCarthy Retail Limited (1996 - present)
Group Director Finance - McCarthy Retail Limited (1996 - 1998)
Group Director Finance - Rainbow Chicken Limited (1991 - 1996)
Chief Executive Officer - Relyant Retail Ltd, Durban (1996 - present)
Partner - Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (accounting) Limited, Johannesburg (1984 - 1991)
Partner - Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, Durban (1981 - 1984)
Auditor - Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (1977 - 1980)
http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/user/4460