Johannesburg - The Commission of Inquiry in State Capture will on Thursday hear testimony of former Transnet Group Treasurer Mathane Eveline Makgatho.
On Wednesday, the commission heard that Transnet lost billions of rand when it decided to hedge its R12 billion loan and R11.3bn in debt to benefit a Gupta-linked company.
Multipurpose Business Solutions’ Dr Jonathan Bloom told the commission, headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that the state-owned freight and rail transport company swopped the interest rates regime for its R12bn loan from a consortium of lenders and sidelined its officials with knowledge and skills in concluding these transactions.
He further revealed that Transnet performed the R12bn swops in two tranches - R4.5bn in December 2015 and the remaining R7.5bn in March 2016.
According to Bloom, who was contracted by Mncedisi Ndlovu and Sedumedi Attorneys to be part of the multidisciplinary team investigating malfeasance at Transnet, the projected total loss in the entire exercise of changing the interest rates for the R4.5bn from floating to fixed is more than R1.8bn.
The interest rates for the R4.5bn portion of the loan were fixed for 15 years at 11.83%, which Bloom said was substantially and abnormally high.