May Mbalula’s honesty set the tone for his comrades

We must admit, we expected Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to lay into our reporter at Wednesday’s media briefing on the ills of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).

That very day, we had printed a lead story about the shambles at Prasa and, particularly, about how Mbalula’s much-vaunted “war room” was a failure.

We have been attacked by government luminaries before – Panyaza Lesufi hit out at our reporter last year after we said the Gauteng government education website was a mess – so it would have been in keeping with the ANC’s modus operandi of shooting the messenger if Mbalula had followed suit.

He did not. He confirmed our report was correct with his remarks that Prasa was “broken” – and then went even further and announced he was closing the war room.

We have certainly had our issues with Mbalula in the past and we believe he spends more time than is necessary commenting on Twitter. But, he has been honest enough to acknowledge failure … and that is rare.

This country needs honesty at this critical juncture in its history – when it is in the middle of a serious economic crisis and a crisis is evolving within the ranks of the ANC.

If politicians continue to play the propaganda game in the hope of misleading people for short-term political gain, it delays, or cancels, any attempts to take proper corrective action.

Prasa, like Eskom, needs a firm hand – and it is good to see Mbalula has appointed an administrator for the organisation. A war room tends to be like a committee and Prasa, not to mention other dying state-owned enterprises, does not need yet another talk shop.

SA needs action, not opinions.

It is to be hoped Mbalula’s humble and sensible approach sets the tone for his comrades.

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