Former public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba has hit a legal roadblock after the government refused to cover his defence costs in a high-profile corruption trial involving Transnet.
Gigaba made his first appearance in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Thursday, 19 February 2026, following the transfer of the case from the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court last month.
He appeared alongside former Transnet chief financial officer (CFO) Anoj Singh, former chief executives Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama, as well as former Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) chief procurement officer Thamsanqa Jiyane, who are out on R50 000 bail.
Transnet corruption allegations
The charges relate to Transnet’s locomotive programme, which was intended to modernise South Africa’s rail network.
Authorities allege that proper procurement processes were bypassed in awarding three locomotive contracts, costing Transnet billions.
CSR, a Chinese firm, was appointed for 95 locomotives, with the contract increasing from R3.2 billion to over R3.4 billion.
Two further contracts with CNR – for 100 and 1 064 locomotives – were also allegedly inflated, rising from R3.8 billion to R4.8 billion and R38.1 billion to R54 billion, respectively.
According to prosecutors, Gigaba allegedly received cash payments on multiple occasions from members of the Gupta family between November 2010 and May 2014, while serving as public enterprises minister.
Malusi Gigaba’s legal funding refused
A central point of contention during Thursday’s court proceedings was the disclosure of evidence.
State prosecutor Santhos Manilall explained that the prosecution had shared the case docket with all the accused except Gigaba, as it awaited a five-terabyte (TB) hard drive from the ANC politician.
This comes after the indictment having been officially served on the defence at their prior appearance.
Gigaba’s legal representative, Advocate Richard Alan Solomon, indicated that his client had approached the state attorney for assistance with legal costs, but the request was unsuccessful.
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“We have only just heard yesterday that that request has been refused on the advice of the state attorney.
“We are still considering our position now that we know that avenue has been closed off and whether that decision will be taken on review,” he told the court.
Solomon also emphasised the high costs of accessing the necessary evidence.
“It comes at quite a considerable cost,” he said, noting that the state had requested multiple hard drives, including two 2.5TB and five 10TB drives, totalling R50 000 to obtain.
Two datasets
Manilall, however, argued that only the five TB drive, costing R3 000, was needed.
He explained that a second dataset of 55 TB contained servers from Transnet and Gupta-linked companies, including Regiments Capital and Trillian Asset Management, which the prosecution does not intend to use in presenting evidence.
“The servers were merely provided so that should the defence wish to dispute any document that a witness will testify on, then they have been provided with these 55 terabytes so that they can authenticate whatever document the state is using,” Manilall said.
Solomon countered that having access to only one of the drives was insufficient.
“They may not be necessary to peruse, but they need to be available to us,” he said.
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The defence requested three weeks to prepare the drives.
It also came to light that both a state witness and Gigaba are represented by the same legal firm.
Manilall stressed that the issue had been raised in November 2025, but the defence did not respond.
“We can’t have a representative who is conflicted in this matter,” he said.
The court granted a two-month postponement to allow the defence time to resolve outstanding issues.
The matter is now set to return on 8 May.
Separate case
In a related case, Singh, Molefe, and Gama face charges including fraud, corruption, money laundering, and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), linked to the same locomotive procurement contracts.
Initially, 15 defendants were implicated, but charges against Trillian and McKinsey & Co. were withdrawn.
The trial, originally scheduled for 2 February 2026, was delayed as the defence was not ready.
Proceedings are expected to resume on 2 March.
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