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Autopax, a bus operator which is a subsidiary of Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, has once again failed to pay its employees their full salaries as financial woes continue to batter the company.
At the end of February, workers only received 25% of their wages, according to Zanele Sabela, spokesperson for the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu). Employees are normally paid on the 27th of every month.
This comes after the struggling company, which operates Translux and City-to-City coach buses, only managed to pay their employees half of their January salaries on time. The balance of their salaries was paid later.
It was not clear when the employees would get the remainder of their February pay. The company has experienced financial challenges linked to its parental company's financial and management woes. Prasa was placed under administration by the ministry of transport earlier this year.
Prasa spokesperson, Makhosini Mgitywa, confirmed the partial payment of salaries, which he blamed on the ongoing "financial crunch" faced by the entity. Mgitywa said Prasa's executive committee would on Tuesday hold a meeting attended by Autopax acting chief executive, Tiro Holele, to discuss the matter.
In a statement issued later in the day, Prasa confirmed it had instructed its finance department to release funds immediately to Autopax so that employees could be paid. The process to transfer funds was underway, Prasa said, and employees could expect payment on or before Thursday 5 March.
Prasa also apologised to Autopax employees for the inconvenience they suffered and undertook to ensure they were paid on time in future.
"[...] Prasa will make every effort to ensure that in future salaries of Autopax employees are paid in full and at the contractually agreed date," the statement said.
Other state-owned entities, including Denel, have also struggled to pay staff salaries.
Last month, a report commissioned by the Competition Commission recommended that Prasa and Autopax be managed as separate entities. It argued that Autopax's links with Prasa gave the company an unfair advantage over its competitors and helped entrench its market dominance.
* This story was updated at 13:30 on Tuesday to reflect that Prasa has extended a loan to Autopax.
