Transnet CEO Portia Derby and CFO resign from their positions
There were calls for Transnet CEO Portia Derby to be fired when she expressed fear of job losses in the trucking sector should rail improve.
Transnet Group Chief Executive (GCE) Portia Derby and Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Nonkululeko Dlamini, have resigned from their positions at the state-owned freight and logistics company.
Derby’s last day at the company is expected to be at the end of this month (October) while Dlamini’s last day was at the end of September.
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TRANSNET CEO PORTIA DERBY RESIGNS
In a statement, it was announced that Chief Executive of Transnet Pipelines, Michelle Phillips, is expected to be Acting GCE from 1 November while Hlengiwe Makhathini will act as Group CFO.
The statement reflected on Derby’s tenure as GCE since her appointment in February 2020 and the challenges that have beset it since.
The logistics company said Derby has steered the company through an extremely challenging period, following on the setting aside of the 1064 locomotive contract which has created a significant binding constraint for Transnet that remains to this day.
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“Furthermore, the period of the current executives’ tenure was impacted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, immediately thereafter the looting, the hacking of the ICT system, the floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the strike towards the end of 2022, all of which have adversely impacted Transnet. The floods in particular required a significant capital outflow to return to service the critical Container Corridor between Johannesburg and Durban,” the company said.
Transnet board chairperson Andile Sangqu expressed the board’s gratitude for their dedication, selflessness and hard work in serving the company during this critical time in its history.