What is going on at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa)? Is the clean-up really going on as promised or is it the same script, different day? The appointment of an acting CFO and calls for a board of control are just some of the issues that the entity is grappling over with unions and civil society. 

The issues with the entity aren’t new – corruption, maladministration and a general downslide in finances. In December 2019, Prasa was placed under administration by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, after the minister claimed the interim board “embarrassed me” before Parliament. Bongisizwe Mpondo had been appointed to lead the entity for a year while Mbalula appointed a permanent board of control. 

New Prasa acting CFO Krishna Govender. (Photo supplied)

But have things changed under new administrator Mpondo? 

The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), one of two bigger unions at the entity, doesn’t think so. 

“Satawu view the administration of Mr Bongisizwe Mpondo in the last five months as hell,” said Lubabalo Tinzi, who serves as national sector co-ordinator for Passenger Rail/Transport Infrastructure and Support Services. Tinzi said this was because the union had to wait four months for a turnaround strategy to be presented to them for adoption.

One of the problems, he said, was that the unions only found out about Mpondo’s plans through the media.

Another majority union at the agency, the United National Transport Union (UNTU), also complained about hearing plans about Prasa through the media. 

In a letter dated 12 May, addressed to Mbalula which Daily Maverick has seen, the union’s general secretary, Steve Harris wrote: 

“The Administrator never took us up on the offer. Instead, he presented us with a ‘cut and paste’ turnaround strategy for Prasa on 17 January 2020 – a plan that the media sent to UNTU on 15 January 2020 for our comment… So instead of the Administrator informing UNTU of his plan, we pointed out the flaws to him.” 

Satawu has also raised concerns over the appointment of Krishna Govender as Prasa’s acting chief financial officer. Govender was appointed last week following the departure of Japhtalina Lesibana Fosu, who had been appointed in September 2019 by the former interim board. Fosu had been the first permanent CFO since 2015 at the entity. 

“Prasa had committed a moratorium on recruitment as part of cost containment. Satawu had received through media reports that Prasa has deviated from this understanding,” Tinzi said.

“Satawu is on record registering its disapproval of acting in all the strategic positions within Prasa as we hold a firm view that acting in all these positions had resulted in leadership crisis and business instability.”

Fosu left Prasa as “a result of internal operational and business imperatives,” said Makhosini Mgitywa, the agency’s spokesperson. 

Govender, a chartered accountant with more than 20 years’ experience, is part of administrator Mpondo’s technical advisory team, composed of six members, including Mgitywa. 

“He has an understanding of the issues and challenges facing the Group Finance department. He is best positioned to guide the team as it navigates the numerous challenges facing the department,” said Mgitywa.

Another appointment is Mawethu Vilana, a former member of the board. Vilana was recently appointed as head of strategy, a post left vacant after the departure of Sipho Sithole, who at one point served a suspension and then was on probation for another year. Daily Maverick has established that this post was never advertised, either internally or externally. 

Mgitywa told Daily Maverick, “Mr Vilana is at Prasa on a fixed-term contract linked to the administrator’s. It is not necessary to advertise such positions. Mr Vilana has a deep understanding of the sector and Prasa in particular. He is a former acting director-general and deputy director-general for the national Department of Transport. Furthermore, he is a former board member at Prasa. 

“We are confident that his appointment will vastly help with the implementation of the turnaround plan, which has been endorsed by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport.”

The plan he referred to was presented to journalists and Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport, and surprisingly, it impressed committee members, who have heard time and time again about various turnaround strategies, which never seemed to turn around results. 

But as much as there is talk of appointments, disagreements and plans, the biggest question is: was Mpondo legally appointed? 

Activist coalition #UniteBehind has taken Mbalula to court to overturn the appointment of Mpondo as the rail agency’s administrator. The coalition argues that only under an act of Parliament can an administrator be appointed, not by a minister. That court application is due to be heard in the following weeks. 

Mbalula defends appointment of Prasa administrator as committee grills him in Parliament

Mgitywa told Daily Maverick: “As things stand, the administrator is the legal authority running the affairs of Prasa. We are encouraged by the endorsement of our turnaround plan by the PCOT and our focus now is on the speedy and clinical implementation of that plan. We are not concerned about speculation regarding matters that courts have not pronounced on.” 

One of #UniteBehind’s leaders, Zukie Vuka, questioned what has changed at the entity since Mpondo came into office. One of the issues the coalition had with the appointment is the lack of a board of control at the entity. 

In court papers, which Daily Maverick has seen, the organisation states that Mbalula needed to appoint a board of control at the entity.

“In his first 100 days, he promised a board, can he please make good [on that promise]?” Vuka asked. 

But while there are court applications, fights between unions and appointments at the entity, what about commuters? DM