Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Businessman Mpho Makwana has been appointed the new chairperson of the board of directors of Gibela Rail Transport Consortium.
He took over from Dr Xolani Humphrey Mkhwanazi on October 1.
Gibela, based on Johannesburg, was in 2013 awarded a R51bn contract by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa to supply 600 trains, made up of about individual 3 600 coaches, for Metrorail.
In a statement on Friday, Gibela said that Makwana is currently the independent non-executive chairman of ArcelorMittal South Africa, and serves as an independent non-executive director on the boards of Adcock Ingram Holdings, the Nedbank Group and Sephaku Holdings Limited.
He is also the chairperson of the advisory boards of the Investing in African Mining Indaba, Epitome Investments and the Boardroom Alliance.
“Mr Makwana volunteers as a member of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Fund’s fund-raising committee and is a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. He is also one of 14 trustees of Brand SA,” read the release.
Thierry Darthout, the CEO of Gibela, said he looked forward to working with Makwana, who he described as “passionate about the betterment of South Africa”.
In September Gibela said that 17 Brazil-built trains had already entered service with Prasa.
The consortium - a partnership between French company Alstom and SA's Ubumbano Rail and New Africa Rail - is currently constructing a train-building facility in Dunnottar in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, where 580 of the trains are set to be built.
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE UPDATE: Get Fin24's top morning business news and opinions in your inbox.
Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter: Fin24’s top stories
