The Portfolio Committee on Transport has accepted the apology offered by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) Board Chairperson Dr Popo Molefe on a comment he had made previously that the Committee was interfering in the operations of the Board.
Dr Popo Molefe said it was unfortunate that Members had interpreted differently the context in which the comment was made. “Clearly, Members felt strongly about the comment. I duly apologise if Members felt offended. The point is that the former group Chief Executive Officer felt that the Board was interfering and as a result the Committee asked that we (the Board) do not meet often,” Mr Molefe said.
He said for the Board to account to the Committee, it needed to meet regularly with PRASA management in order to get the required reports and information.
The Acting Chairperson of the Committee Mr Sibusiso Radebe said Members accepted the apology and demanded that PRASA carry out its constitutional fiduciary duties of being of service to South Africans.
“The entity should deal decisively with all outstanding issues that the A-G had identified in the annual report that involves irregular expenditure, record keeping, filling of senior management vacancies, suspensions and contracts management. This is one entity that cannot afford as a large portion of our population relies on services PRASA subsidiaries offer,” Mr Radebe said.
PRASA came to Parliament to brief the Committee on the implementation of the A-G’s recommendations on the 2014/15 financial year. Mr Radebe also called on the entity to deal with outsourcing and rely on utilising with internal skills. He said PRASA must also address the issue of train delays as it impacted negatively on ordinary people’s lives.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Sibongile Maputi
Tel: 021 403 8041
Cell: 081 052 6060
E-mail: smaputi@parliament.gov.za
