The Gibela Rail Transport Consortium has appointed Reggie Boqo CEO, effective October 1.

The consortium is a South African rail company pursuing the revitalisation of passenger rail. Established in 2013 through a contract with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), Gibela is tasked with manufacturing, maintaining and supporting 600 new, modern commuter trains for the country’s metropolitan regions.

Boqo has been serving as Gibela Rail acting CEO since April 2024. The consortium highlights that he has played a pivotal role in ensuring the entity’s stability, operational performance and delivery during this period.

Prior to that, he served as CFO from 2018, and is said to have provided strong financial leadership and helped to drive Gibela Rail’s strategy to localise rail manufacturing, create jobs, develop and transfer technical skills in South Africa.

Boqo is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of experience in finance, infrastructure funding and leadership roles across both the public and private sectors.

Before joining Gibela Rail in 2018, he was group CFO for the City of Johannesburg.

He also spent over a decade in the financial services sector focussing on infrastructure financing where held a role of group FD at the Infrastructure Finance Corporation. He also held senior roles at the Central Energy Fund, where he chaired the group audit and risk committee.

Boqo has served as on various boards and governance committees in both public and private sector entities.

He is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and a Chartered Management Accountant. He holds a BCom Accounting degree from North-West University, a BCompt Honours in Accounting Science from the University of South Africa and has completed executive programmes at Wits Business School and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

“Mr Boqo has demonstrated the vision, leadership and integrity that we require to take Gibela Rail into its next chapter. Under his stewardship, Gibela Rail has continued to perform to our expectations. His permanent appointment signals our confidence in his ability to deliver on our long-term commitments and build on the strong foundation laid in recent years,” says Gibela Rail chairperson Irene Charnley.

Boqo’s appointment coincides with the completion of Gibela’s 300th train set for delivery to the PRASA, a milestone which marks the halfway point of the 600-train contract, the consortium points out.

“While the achievement underscores Gibela’s continued progress under the lean manufacturing production strategy, the board believes it also reflects Mr Boqo’s effective leadership during his acting tenure,” it says.

“It is an honour to be entrusted with leading Gibela at such an important time. I am deeply proud of what our team has achieved and I am committed to ensuring that we continue to deliver modern, safe and reliable trains for South Africa.

“This role is not just about building trains; it is about contributing to the revitalisation of South Africa’s passenger rail system and supporting the country’s broader industrialisation goals,” Boqo comments.