– The DA has referred allegations about GNT’s new procurement of an electronic ticketing system to the SIU, amid concerns about possible corruption and links to individuals within GNT or LEDA.
– More than 18 months after Proclamation 246 of 2025 authorised an SIU investigation into GNT procurement and maladministration, there has been no substantive public account of its progress or outcomes.
– Almost R1 billion in taxpayer support has failed to stabilise GNT, yet the entity is seeking another R198.8 million while serious questions remain about procurement, weak controls and whether public money was lost through irregular or improper conduct, including corruption.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo has referred allegations concerning Great North Transport’s (GNT) procurement of a new electronic ticketing system to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), while demanding an update on the SIU’s wide-ranging investigation into corruption and maladministration at the troubled entity.
The DA has received information raising concerns that successive ticketing service providers may not be wholly independent and that directors or owners of companies involved may be individuals from within GNT. Lending weight to these concerns is the allegation that technicians involved in previous GNT ticketing systems are again being used to install new machines.
See letter to SIU here.
The SIU investigation into GNT was authorised by the President under Proclamation 246 of 2025 and covers multiple procurement and maladministration matters, including possible unlawful conduct, losses of public money and corruption.
More than 18 months after the Proclamation was issued, there has been no substantive public account of its progress or outcomes.
GNT cannot continue to be a financial black hole into which taxpayers are expected to pour hundreds of millions more while serious questions remain about where previous funding went – and we are yet to see any accountability or consequence management.
The DA will ask the SIU to investigate the alleged links between successive ticketing service providers and individuals within GNT or LEDA, and determine whether these matters fall within the scope of its existing investigation. We will also request an update on any findings, referrals, recoveries or recommendations arising from the existing probe.
The DA will further submit questions to the MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Tshitereke Matibe, on previous and current ticketing contracts, company ownership, technicians used, possible interests held by GNT or LEDA officials, and why the previous system is being replaced.
This scrutiny is particularly important while GNT seeks another R198.8 million in public funding and the CIPC has questioned its continued trading and demanded answers by the end of this month.
The ANC-led province cannot continue pouring public money into GNT while serious questions about procurement, weak controls, past expenditure and possible maladministration and corruption remain unresolved. To do so would be reckless and unconscionable.
Before another rand is committed, the public deserves to know what was bought before, why it is being replaced, who benefited from those contracts and, above all, whether any public money was lost through maladministration, irregular conduct or corruption.