Popo Molefe due to file court papers in latest twist in Prasa’s boardroom battle

The boardroom battle at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is set for another twist on Monday.

Members of the former board of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) are lodging an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria on Monday to reverse their removal by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters and to interdict her from appointing a new board.

Peters was expected to brief the media on developments at Prasa at 10.30am on Monday‚ after she dissolved the board last week.

In a notice of motion‚ seven board members state their intention to ask the court to review or alternatively declare unlawful Peters’s notice of their removal.

• Molefe says Prasa board sacked to halt probe into corruption worth billionsFired Passenger Rail Agency of SA board chairman Popo Molefe has accused Transport Minister Dipuo Peters of dissolving the board to kill its investigation into massive corruption. 

They want her decision to remove them declared unlawful‚ to be reinstated and for any appointment of an interim or new board to be declared unlawful.

In the founding affidavit by former Prasa board chairman Popo Molefe‚ he says Peters’s decision was an “abuse of public power” and an “irrational exercise of statutory power”.

He argues that there is no legal basis for the board’s removal by the minister.

“The minister failed to provide any basis … for taking the drastic step of wholesale removal of the applicants and effective decapitation of the governance structure at Prasa‚” he says in the affidavit. “The minister cannot remove simply because she wants to do so.”

Molefe argues that the board members were not given notice of or reasons for their removal.

He says the only contentious issue between them and the minister was the removal of former acting Prasa CE Collins Letsoalo‚ who was seconded to the state-owned entity from the transport department.

Letsoalo was removed by the board in the wake of a report in the Sunday Times that he had allegedly upped his salary by 350%.

Molefe also criticises the “blanket removal” of the board‚ saying the minister should have assessed each member to determine whether their removal was warranted.

“The blanket dismissal of the entire board is unlawful‚ irrational‚ procedurally unfair and contrary to the rule of law‚” he says.

Molefe further argues that should the removal of the board stand‚ the perception may be created that the minister is seeking to prevent investigations into corruption‚ currently under way‚ from being concluded‚ and that she is punishing the board for Letsoalo’s removal.

Investigations into corruption may be prejudiced and the affected board members may suffer reputational and other damage‚ he says.