Transport minister says Prasa shouldn't be in the media for all the wrong reasons

Prasa should be changing the lives of South Africans and not "occupying the media space for the wrong reasons" says new Transport minister Joe Maswanganyi.

Addressing the media ahead of his budget vote speech in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon‚ Maswanganyi said his budget would be the "start of a new chapter of radical socio-economic transformation in the transport sector".

However‚ in his address to the media‚ he made little mention of rail and the embattled Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).

Former transport minister Dipuo Peters sacked the entire Prasa board and its chairman Popo Molefe shortly before she was recalled. The decision was however overturned in court.

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Responding to a question about whether he had met with the board of Prasa‚ Maswanganyi said: "I meet with the board members of all 12 entities and with CEOs."

Earlier this month‚ Molefe claimed that he had written to Maswanganyi but had been ignored.

Maswanganyi said the entities were "not independent or autonomous" and were an integral part of the Department of Transport.

He said Prasa should be preoccupied with "changing lives and should not occupy the media space for the wrong reasons."

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Maswanganyi added that "many" of the entities were "doing well" but others had challenges‚ among them‚ the filling of vacancies on their boards.

"It's not about one board or one chairperson‚" he said.

-TMG Digital/TimesLIVE