Prasa is scratching in bins to replace worn brake pads with used ones – DA

In a statement released on Tuesday, Democratic Alliance MP Chris Hunsinger said the party would write letters to Prasa and the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) to request that “they make public plans on how the regulator intends to address the lack of replacement brake blocks at its maintenance facilities”.

The party raised concerns, saying that Prasa replacing worn brake pads with used ones would place commuters at risk following RSR’s inspection that revealed no new brake blocks were available for the replacement of worn brake blocks on Prasa’s trains.

Prasa reportedly received a letter which ordered the state-owned enterprise to address the matter and provide RSR with proof that a solution to supply a number of new brake blocks has been developed by Tuesday, 4 February.

Hunsinger said the party were sent pictures that showed the worn brake spares and the bins which technicians reportedly had took parts from the bins to keep the trains operating.

“The practice of salvaging used spare parts to replace worn parts places the lives of the millions of South African rail commuters in unimaginable amounts danger and will inevitably result in accidents, and worse fatalities, if not addressed immediately,” said Hunsinger.

“We are therefore of the view that it is in the public’s interest to know exactly how and when Prasa will restock its maintenance facilities with new replacement brake blocks,” he added.

Hunsinger also said that the party would monitor and follow up on Prasa’s progress given the instruction by RSR.

Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula said this year that Prasa should be considered a “broken organisation … struggling to provide an efficient commuter and passenger rail service”.

He admitted that numerous boards had failed to save Prasa and he had appointed an administrator, Bongisizwe Mpondo, who would report to him instead of a board every month.

Mpondo had established that Prasa had been ravaged by systemic erosion of value and was characterised by disorder, with “countless changes” at chief executive officer and board level since 2015, culminating in an interim board last year.

Mpondo said these changes were, by design, a key enabler for instability and that Prasa was a fertile ground for crooks.

“Questionable decisions have been taken by leadership, with disastrous consequences.

“One telling example is that towards the end of last year, the interim board cancelled the security contracts without a contingency plan in place.”

This had led to parts of coaches being stripped by vandals and live cables stolen.

There was also no proper record-keeping, with board records, minutes and resolutions nonexistent and some investigation files missing.

There was no adequate backup system, with key company information stored in staff computers and operating systems not fully deployed and, in some cases, nonexistent.

Mpondo said irregular expenditure was close to R30 billion in 2018/19, irregular contracts were at R1.57 billion and about 52 current and former employees had been implicated in the looting spree.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.