Brian Molefe: Transnet's man for all seasons

"Half the job will be done (at Transnet) if you get the people factor right," Molefe said. At 45, Molefe has succeeded to secure some of the most powerful corporate jobs in the country. Transnet has an infrastructure development budget of about R110bn to be spent over the next four years and employs about 57000 people. On top of this, it is now talking about a R17bn coal rail network to traverse Mpumalanga and Swaziland through to Richards Bay.

"The biggest challenge is to communicate effectively and motivate people into a coherent structure pushing in one direction. If anything, it is this (the people factor) that is keeping me awake at night," he said. Transnet stands accused of denying the country a golden opportunity of riding the commodities boom and maximise the benefits of being a mineral-rich nation. Because of South Africa 's decaying rail infrastructure, miners of key commodities including coal and iron ore, whose prices sky-rocketed over the past few years, could not ride the wave largely because of Transnet's inefficiencies in transporting their output from mines to the ports. Molefe's adrenaline may just save the situation.

A significant portion of Transnet inefficiencies, Molefe points out, resulted from a massive under-investment in infrastructure maintenance and development. Thus a significant part of his mandate is to oversee a speedy revamp of the rail and ports infrastructure. Speaking to The New Age, Molefe describes himself as a "professional executive" and less a political animal than has been suggested many times. He said this reasoning was flawed on two fronts - making him a politician when he was professional and in suggesting that South Africa was taken over by a new government in 2009. "As far as I'm concerned, no other political party outside the ANC came to power since 1994."

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