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Prasa has disintegrated into personality fight - Satawu

Johannesburg - The current situation at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has seen it disintegrate into a personality fight, with Transport Minister Dipuo Peters failing to take responsibility for the issues at hand, the SA Transport Allied Workers Union (Satawu) said on Friday.

"Our view on the whole situation has always been that the minister [Peters] needed to take leadership a long time ago," spokesperson Refiloe Lepere told News24.

"The situation has now disintegrated to become a personality fight, and our view has always been clear: that there is a lack of leadership in terms of the minister taking responsibility on the issues at hand."

This ranged from the board chairmanship of Popo Molefe, the composition of the board, and the way Prasa was being run.

On Thursday, former CEO Lucky Montana laid a claim of fraud against a security company with ties to Prasa, Netwerk24 reported.

The security company allegedly obtained a tender from Prasa in the past.

According to Montana's charge, certain documents relating to the tender were false.

He also reportedly opened a fraud, blackmail and corruption case against Molefe, and two other Prasa executives.

'This board is an illegal board'

Montana was fired with immediate effect from Prasa on July 16. He regards his dismissal as illegal.

His removal came amid reports that Prasa had put millions into new diesel locomotives which allegedly did not conform to local rail line standards.

Lepere said the claims made by Montana mirrored what the union had been speaking out about for months.

"This board is an illegal board, the board is compromised. Everything that is happening now is just showing that we've been right all along," she said.

"What we had said from the beginning in terms of the appointment of the board, in terms of any parastatal, and any state entity, there [should be] clear guidelines for the appointment of a board and a leader and a chairperson like that and so forth."

She said Prasa has been a functioning parastal, compared to others such as Eskom, but its board was appointed illegally and with no cause.

"We went to the minister [Peters] over and over again, in meetings and writing, things like that, highlighting the history of Dr Popo Molefe. That he comes from PetroSA.

"PetroSA currently... is in shambles," Lepere said.

"So how do we make decisions about our board, appointing people who are coming from institutions that they have left in shambles? Then, what is your reasoning in terms of appointment of that?"

The primary issue from the Satawu's perspective was that Prasa workers were feeling insecure, as their fortunes were linked to the financial sustainability of the parastatal.

"Workers have said these are disruptions that are making them insecure... Currently, now, that is our fear, you are going to get to a place where you are bankrupting Prasa, and then what happens to our workers?" she said.

"We have to talk about retrenchments, we have to talk about 'we don't have money', that's what's happening right now at SAA, things like that."

South Africa needed a functioning state entity that ensured decent work and decent work meant job security for its workers.

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