• Workers at the North West Transport Investment went unpaid for months and protested to demand government action.

• The former Business Rescue Practitioner was removed after failing to produce a plan or explain spending.

A new Business Rescue Practitioner has been appointed to try and save the struggling North West Transport Investment (NTI).

Mahomed Mahier Tayob has taken over after the Gauteng High Court ruled to remove Thomas Hendric Samons, who failed to turn the bus company around.

NTI has faced serious money problems since July 2022, with workers often going five to seven months without pay.

During the December holidays, staff went on strike for three weeks, leaving commuters stranded. They even marched to the Mafikeng Legislature to demand their salaries and called on the provincial government to step in.

North West Department of Community Safety and Transport’s Charles Matlou said Samons was meant to come up with a rescue plan within 25 working days, but he didn’t.

“He failed to account for the money the government paid to the entity,” said Matlou.

That’s when the department went to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to have him removed. Samons tried to appeal the ruling, but the court granted a Section 18 application to enforce the order. On 27 March 2025, judgment was handed down to officially remove him.

SAWU Ya Bashumi General Secretary, Lebusa Mamaregane, said the new BRP must act fast.

“We want to see this company returned to its glory days before it was rocked by corruption and mismanagement of funds,” he said.

“We don’t want to see the company being liquidated as over 100 employees will be affected and the commuters who rely on the services daily will be negatively affected.

“The first thing the new practitioner must do is to devise a plan to pay employees what they are owed since the beginning of the year,” Mamaregane said.

Pictured above: Busses.

Image source: Facebook