It investigated two procurement deals - one for 95 locomotives and one for 1‚064 locomotives from China South Rail (CSR) and China North Rail (CNR). Their cost was overpriced by R1.2bn and R16bn respectively.

At the time the tenders were approved‚ Gigaba - who this week resigned his from his position as home affairs minister and as an MP - was the minister of public enterprises.

Gigaba‚ according to the report‚ compromised the procurement process for the 95 locomotives by signing the locomotive supply agreement between Transnet and CSR as a witness‚ and that he acted "outside his authority" in advising Transnet to continue to procure 1‚064 more locomotives.

Molefe and Singh‚ who at the time of the deal was Transnet's group chief financial officer‚ failed to conduct a cost-benefit analysis when a decision was taken to change the 95-locomotive tender from the Mitsui locomotive model to the CSR model‚ the report said.

"Transnet would have saved R1.2bn if it procured 100 locomotives from Mitsui at R3.188bn [rather] than procuring from CSR at R4.4bn. Molefe and Singh failed to follow a proper process when motivating for the acquisition of locomotives from CSR."

The report recommended the Hawks launch criminal investigations into suspended senior Transnet officials Thamsanqa Jiyane and Lindiwe Mdletshe‚ and the state-owned company's former group chief executive‚ Siyabonga Gama.