Transport minister Fikile Mbalula has appointed a former chair of the transport portfolio committee in Parliament, Leonard Ramatlakane to head a new board for the embattled Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).
This after Western Cape High Court judge Nathan Erasmus ruled on August 25 that the minister should appoint a new board within 60 days. Erasmus also ruled that Mbalula’s failure to appoint a board for the rail operator and his decision to appoint Bongisizwe Mpondo as the administrator instead of a full board was unlawful, and set it aside.
Prasa is one of the many state-owned enterprises that have been hollowed out by years of corruption and mismanagement linked to state capture. It announced in May that it was facing a debilitating cash-flow crunch after failing to pay R23m to employees’ retirement fund benefits for the previous two months.
The rail operator said it was considering job cuts through voluntary severance packages to ease its financial woes. Prasa lost R199m since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown in March. The revenue loss now projected for 2020 is R757m.
Minister in the presidency Jackson Mthembu announced on Thursday that the cabinet had approved the appointment of the new Prasa board chaired by former ANC MP Leonard Ramatlakane, subject to the verification of qualifications and the relevant clearances.
The new board also includes advocate Smanga Sethene, Matodzi Mukhuba, Boitumelo Mokgoko, Dinkwanyane Mohuba, Dr Alison Lewis, Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo, Thinavhuyo Mpye, and one representative each from the department of transport, department of finance, and the SA Local Government Association (Salga).
Nokwe-Macamo was fired as CEO of PetroSA in November 2015 after the state-owned petrochemicals company lost R15bn under her watch. Prasa spokesperson Makhosini Mgitywa referred questions to Mbalula’s spokesperson, Ayanda Allie-Paine, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
United National Transport Union (Untu) spokesperson Sonja Carstens said while they welcomed the new board, they were disappointed in Mbalula for not including a labour representative on the board as per their request to him.
“We welcome the board appointment because the minister is adhering to a court order. But the board members are relatively unknown to us, we've never heard of them,” said Carstens.
SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) Prasa national coordinator Lubabalo Tinzi said they will support the board to continue the work Mpondo started in cleaning out the rot at the rail operator, which Mbalula has described as a broken organisation.
Speaking to Business Day on Thursday, Ramatlakane said he was excited about his new responsibility.
“It’s a challenging job, it’s not a walk in the park, but I’m committed to the task at hand and I look forward to giving it my best,” Ramatlakane said.
Correction: October 22 2020
This article has been updated throughout with more detail and to reflect that Jennifer Schreiner will not form part of the board, as previously stated. Government spokesperson Phumla Williams said they relied on an outdated cabinet memo in making the assertion. Businessperson Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo has been appointed in Schreiner's place.
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