The board of the Passenger Rail Authority of South Africa (PRASA) was working “full steam” to improve operations at the organisation by putting greater emphasis on transparency and accountability. Board chairman Popo Molefe‚ confirmed on Wednesday that the decision follows receipt of the Auditor General's Report which highlighted irregular‚ fruitless and wasteful expenditure.Furthermore‚ the PRASA board was expecting a legal opinion about prospects of recovering funds from former employees accused of falsifying their qualifications. Other actions deliberated by the board included civil criminal proceedings and blacklisting affected persons from working for the state.Molefe said‚ “Transparency and accountability should be accorded greater importance in the future when weighing up the protection of executive decisions against disclosure. We must be able to publicly justify our decisions immediately.”According to a statement on Wednesday‚ PRASA also awaited receipt of the Public Protector’s report. The report was delayed by the Office of the Public Protector following requests from PRASA staff to make further submissions.The board had encouraged the executive committee of PRASA to “ensure that no effort is spared in uncovering and clearing up fraud. Potential informants have also been requested to support the proceedings of the Auditor-General and the Public Protector.”A comprehensive skills and qualifications audit had been initiated across the entire company as “part of a process aimed at making the company ready to advance effective management of the new fleet of trains and to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure caused by inflated salaries of individuals who faked their qualifications”.“The Minister of Transport‚ Dipuo Peters‚ engaged PRASA about the urgent need for a comprehensive audit of all academic qualifications by staff. The board highly welcomed the minister’s call and is now at full steam to ensure realisation of findings from the AG report which was subsequently pursued” said Molefe.Reflecting on complaints by some stakeholder‚ Molefe said‚ “We are also aware of stakeholders who are aggrieved by our actions. More so‚ those who appear to have been benefiting from unstructured arrangements with PRASA.“We would like a win-win situation which will ensure transparency and accountability as the foundation of partnership with stakeholders. This relationship must result in the creation of jobs and growth that seeks to address challenges as identified in the National Development Plan‚” he said...