VIVA RAMOS, as Transnet announced at the weekend that it had amended the fixed-term contract of CEO Maria Ramos which was due to expire in October. She has no immediate plans to leave, according to Transnet spokesman Mboniso Sigonyela. Information released to FTW by Transnet suggested that, having snipped out the fixed-term provisions, the new contract of employment included a new clause requiring her – or the board – to give a notice period of the intention to terminate her employment with the company. Reacting to this Ramos re-appointment, the freight industry seems to be lined along two attitudes. One that sees Ramos credited for her financial abilities, and pulling Transnet out of a mire into which it was slowly sinking. Transnet has recorded a positive set of results for four years on the trot, and its June annual report showed revenue having risen by 11.9% to R30.1-billion and operational profit up 22%. Gross earnings were 18.3% up, at R13.2-bn. The second line of thought in the freight industry is that Ramos’s financial dexterity is rather effectively countered by the lack of dexterity of her operational underlings running the various transport outfits in the state-owned group.
