Amid mounting pressure for an overhaul of Transnet management, the organisation’s head of Freight Rail says her decision to exit the organisation was a personal one.

Transnet Freight Rail CEO Sizakele Mzimela announced her resignation in a letter to staff on Thursday morning. Mere hours later, she presented to the mining industry at the Joburg Indaba in Sandton.

Mzimela was reluctant to discuss her resignation, save to say, "It’s a personal choice. When things change, you decide whether you fit in or don’t fit in and whether you align or don’t align. And I will leave it at that."

Mzimela will step down at the end of October after three years at the helm of Transnet Freight Rail. Her exit follows days after that of Transnet Group CEO Portia Derby and CFO Nonkululeko Dlamini.

Mzimela’s presentation spoke to the notable challenges faced by the rail business, including a shortage of locomotives and an underinvestment infrastructure. 

The loco shortage follows an inability to procure spares from the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation.

An impasse mainly now lies with the South African Revenue Service and the Reserve Bank and resulted after the Chinese company was among those found to have been implicated in state capture, having paid billions in kickbacks to Gupta companies as part of a locomotives supply deal with Transnet.

Mzimela said she is the first to admit she is "very disappointed" that a solution has not been found. Nobody could have anticipated that the Chinese would retaliate by withhold spare parts for locos already in operation, she added.

"The biggest frustration [is] you know what needs to be done. But you need the tools to be able to do what you need to …every single day you hear about the negative impact on the economy, but no one is actually talking about, where are the tools?"