The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) has now formally added former Minister Malusi Gigaba as the fifth accused in a corruption case involving former Transnet executives at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court.

Gigaba appeared in court on Tuesday morning alongside Anoj Singh, the former Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO), Brian Molefe, the former Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Transnet, Siyabonga Gama, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Thamsanqa Jiyane, who was the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) in the Transport Freight Rail (TFR) division within Transnet.

It comes after IDAC issued a summons on 7 November to Gigaba to appear, which he agreed to. The matter has now been combined with that of the other accused.

Gigaba’s court appearance relates to a period from November 2010 to May 2014, during which the alleged offences were committed while he was the Minister in the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).

Over this period, the accused engaged in the process of acquiring locomotives to expand and modernise the country’s rail infrastructure, but tender processes were allegedly flouted, with three contracts being irregularly awarded.

It resulted in Transnet being provided with 95, 100 and 1064 locomotives in the three different contracts, resulting in a loss of billions of rands for the parastatal.

The State alleges that, during the period that Gigaba was the Minister of DPE, he allegedly accepted and received undisclosed amounts of cash from members of the Gupta family, which are corrupt in nature, and which he was not entitled to.

All the accused were presented with an updated charge sheet.

The matter was postponed to 30 January 2026 for the disclosure of the docket, as well as the provision of an indictment, and a date for the transfer of the case to the high court.