Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says a preliminary investigation by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has found that 1,480 employees could either not be physically verified or their files were nonexistent. 

Mbalula and senior Prasa officials briefed the media on Monday on the issue of “ghost” workers at the agency.

In March this year, Mbalula told Parliament it seemed that there were 3,000 ghost workers at Prasa.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Prasa on the hook at Scopa over 3,000 ‘ghost’ employees and many other disasters”

On Monday, Mbalula said Prasa had conducted its own investigations under the banner of “Project Ziveze”, which aimed to ensure all employees who drew salaries from Prasa were legitimate.

This comprised four stages of employee verification at the agency which has been hammered by neglect and vandalism. During one phase of the investigation, only 14,268 out of 17,268 employees on the agency’s payroll system presented themselves for verification, said Mbalula. 

“Failure by 3,000 employees to come forward for physical verification led to suspicions that there could be a number of ghost employees at Prasa,” said Mbalula.

The Prasa board then did a clean-up exercise to determine if these were, in fact, “ghost” workers. An independent service provider was commissioned to look into the issue and identify agency officials who may have been involved in a scam.

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The investigation flagged 2,143 employees who had been grouped into employees who could not be physically verified, employees masquerading as somebody else, fraudulent qualifications submitted and employees with serious criminal offences.

“The preliminary investigation revealed that 1,480 employees cannot be physically verified and their files or documentation are nonexistent, while others resigned without the necessary supporting documentation at the start of the project,” said Mbalula.

The minister said the project’s scope extended to “validating whether the employment of foreign nationals is in line with the provisions of the law… the initial exercise revealed that several Prasa employees were without valid ID documents and the necessary work permits as required by laws of the Republic”.

According to Mbalula, other agencies that assisted Prasa in the verification process included the South African Revenue Service, Umalusi and the South African Qualifications Authority.

A forensic investigation will be triggered due to the preliminary probe, said Mbalula.

Asked to clarify Mbalula’s comments that the investigation had saved Prasa R200-million, the agency’s acting CEO, Hishaam Emeran, said that over the course of the 10-month probe, an average of R20-million a month had been saved.

However, Emeran said this was a “conservative amount” as this figure had been calculated only for Prasa Rail, and not the entire agency.

Calls for another inquiry into Prasa

During the briefing, Mbalula said “a commission of inquiry is a waste of money”. This was in reference to a recommendation by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that a commission of inquiry be established to find out why Prasa had been allowed to degenerate into almost total ruin.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Chief Justice calls for special commission to investigate Prasa’s implosion”

Mbalula said another commission was not needed; instead, “we need the camping of law enforcement” at Prasa. The Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have been investigating wrongdoing at the agency. 

Two weeks ago, Daily Maverick reported that the SIU was in the process of finalising criminal, disciplinary and civil litigation referrals at Prasa.

In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a proclamation that allowed the SIU to investigate serious maladministration at the rail agency, including improper or unlawful conduct by officials and employees of Prasa, intentional or negligent loss of public money or damage to public property, and unlawful appropriation of public money or property.

During the briefing, Mbalula said the SIU had its report ready and that “everybody is going to be held accountable”.

Gangsters on Cape Town’s Central Line

Mbalula revealed that he had been in talks with Defence Minister Thandi Modise on the possibility of deploying the army on to Cape Town’s troubled Central Line, where gangsters are involved in intimidation and extortion over not being included in security contracts.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Gun-wielding gangsters target Prasa, derail Western Cape train line repair plans”

“We are going to respond to those criminals in Cape Town,” said Mbalula, referring to them as “those people with no teeth”.

Filling senior roles

Mbalula said “top management posts”, including a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Procurement Officer and Human Resources head, would be filled before December.

Prasa’s leadership has been unstable, with seven acting CEOs in six years. 

In 2019, an administrator was appointed, but this was overturned as an administrator can be appointed only via the courts or Parliament.

Under the management of former ANC MP Leonard Ramatlakane, Zolani Matthews was hired in March 2021 as CEO. Matthews, the brother of foreign minister Naledi Pandor, was fired from the agency in December last year amid claims that he did not pass security clearance and had dual citizenship (stemming from his family’s exile).

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Prasa fires Zolani Matthews as CEO for not disclosing dual citizenship”

Matthews was supposed to be reinstated after an arbitration award in his favour. However, according to News24Business, Prasa plans to approach the Labour Court to have the arbitration order set aside.

Asked about Matthews at the briefing, Prasa board chair Ramatlakane said as far as the board was concerned, “the matter is closed”. DM