Prasa chases billions in court while launching ‘modernisation’ plan

The Passenger Railway Agency of South Africa (Prasa), which was last week ordered to cease operations of its mainline passenger service due to safety concerns, will today be embroiled in a multibillion-rand matter to be heard in the High Court in Johannesburg involving another service provider.

In August last year, Prasa dismissed its group executive of information technology, Chris Mbatha, for his role in illegally awarding a lucrative contract to Siyangena Technologies – hired during the reign of CEO Lucky Montana, to install automatic speed gates, electronic information boards and surveillance systems at train stations.

Prasa, which at the 11th hour enlisted the services of law firm Werksmans, wants to recover billions said to have been illegally paid to Siyangena.

Werksmans initially pulled out due to being owed millions in outstanding fees.

Siyangena is demanding payment for outstanding fees amounting to R2.8 billion.

Meanwhile, as safety concerns for its grounded mainline fleet has become a headache for the loss-making state-owned enterprise (SOE), Prasa’s Metrorail service over the weekend continued to be scaled down in several parts of Gauteng.

According to spokesperson Nana Zenani, Prasa was “experiencing unprecedented levels of vandalism across all the regional Metrorail and Shosholoza Meyl services, resulting in massive disruption to commuter services”.

Mass vandalism of electrical wires and the destruction of Prasa infrastructure has led to vast operational sections being closed down due to lack of electrical lines, while a “modernisation project” was under way.

Prasa administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo, who has been given 12 months to transform Prasa, has appointed a panel of technical advisers to assist him, but not all have rail engineering experience.

The technical team includes Makhosini Mgitywa (formerly Makhosini Nkosi), a former journalist who was recently head of communications with the ministry of human settlements, water and sanitation, serving as spokesperson.

Others are:

Phelisa Nkomo, appointed to improve communication and stakeholder management, as well as performance monitoring and reporting. William Mathebula, who has been seconded from National Treasury to provide expert knowledge and skills in supply-chain management

Themba Camane, who holds a BSc Engineering (Civil) from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and a master’s degree from Wits Business School, whose services have been enlisted to turn around Prasa’s rail and Autopax bus operations.

Dr Mathetha Mokonyama, who holds a degree in civil engineering from Wits, as well as a master’s and PhD in transportation engineering from the University of Pretoria. Seconded from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, his brief is to optimise the company’s service offering.

Chartered accountant Krishna Govender, tasked with providing leadership in accounting and financial management.

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