South Africa has appointed the former head of its government pension fund to lead troubled logistics group Transnet, which transports coal and iron ore in the commodity-exporting country.

South Africa's Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said the cabinet had appointed Brian Molefe, former head of the Public Investment Corporation, to take the helm of Transnet for a five-year term.

Molefe's appointment follows a two-year gap where Transnet was without stable leadership after its former chief executive, Maria Ramos, departed for retail lender Absa in early 2009.

"A number of stakeholders of Transnet have raised concerns about leadership certainty at Transnet," Gigaba said.

"This will and should boost confidence in the organisation to raise money."

Transnet is investing billions of dollars to upgrade its rail and port infrastructure to boost capacity on the rail lines that transport coal and iron ore to export terminals.

Miners have long complained about inadequate infrastructure, which has stymied their ability to ship more minerals and meet rising demand from Asia.

Transnet and mining companies have recently begun talks on possible private-public partnerships to speed investment in rail infrastructure. Mining executives have said stable leadership at Transnet could help move those talks forward.

Transnet has for years failed to ship all the coal destined for exports, despite an expanded capacity of 91-million tons at the export terminal at Richards Bay. The logistics group moved 63-million tons of coal to Richards Bay last year.

While at PIC, Molefe has used his role as chief executive of the powerful pension fund to lobby for greater black representation among company executives and shareholders.