Passenger Rail Agency SA’s (Prasa) turn-around strategy as well as a report into its procurement and supply chain management by the Office of the Public Protector are both receiving the attention of the agency’s board and will be brought to the attention of Transport Minister Dipuo Peters. This is according to the Prasa board‚ which met with Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations in Cape Town on Wednesday. The meeting was called to discuss its financial and non-financial performance for the 2015-2016 financial year.Former public protector Thuli Madonsela identified billions in fruitless‚ wasteful and irregular expenditure at the agency in her report “Derailed” last year. The rail agency revised its supply chain management policy in July and subscribed to the central database of suppliers in government.Prasa acting group CEO Collins Letsoalo told the committee that the agency was in the process of changing supply chain management in the agency to address weaknesses identified by Madonsela.“We are working on a turn-around strategy which we will be referring to the board and the shareholder‚ being the minister of transport. We have considered the report and are implementing the public protector’s remedial actions‚” said Letsoalo.Letsoalo added that Prasa needed a reprieve from some of the pressures other government entities placed on it so it could serve South Africans. One example was a 30% subsidy on power consumption it had to pay as a subsidy to Eskom‚ which the power utility adds to funds to electrify poor households.“We don’t pay tax. We use a subsidy and are expected to use that to pay another subsidy and we want this to change. We get R3.73 per passenger per trip. We are expected to give quality service aligned and compared to Gautrain. This suggests that the rich are more subsidised than the poor‚” Letsoalo complained.Prasa board chairman Popo Molefe said most of the matters of expenditure in the annual report were “legacy issues”. He said in a number of cases the agency had to choose between ending suspect contracts that matter and continuing services to the South African public.“We have started condoning undesirable expenditure arising from administrative error but those which involve criminal activity will have to go through the relevant state institutions. A number of managers who were caught with their hands in the till have run away‚ or been disciplined or have been subjected to court proceedings‚” he said.Asked by appropriations committee member for the Democratic Alliance Malcolm Figg whether the Guptas would qualify as a supplier under its Black Economic Empowerment standards‚ Molefe said any black-owned business which performed well and worked ethically would.“To the extent that the Guptas may have acquired full SA citizenship and to the extent that they conduct proper and ethical business they would qualify to benefit from the promotion of black industrialists‚” Molefe said.Appropriations committee chairwoman Yvonne Nkwenkwezi Phosa said the government could ill-afford any weaknesses in supply chain and procurement controls at the rail agency.“In these financial times SOEs need to be in a sound financial position with a reasonable return‚ governance systems in place and ensuring that they deliver on their mandates in improving the quality of South African lives‚” Phosa said. – TMG Digital/BusinessLIVE..