The struggle to put Prasa gravy train on a new track

Outgoing chairman tells of schemes to oust him and thwart probes of alleged rigged tenders

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa chairman Popo Molefe says that if the government were serious about radical economic transformation it would have done more to support Prasa and make it a success.

"Prasa is central to the advancement of radical economic transformation," he says.

Instead, the government has undermined him and his board, and its actions have "impacted on the ability of Prasa to serve the people".

At a ceremony to launch the first of its new passenger trains last week, President Jacob Zuma hailed Prasa's R273-billion, 20-year modernisation programme.

But forensic investigations instituted by Molefe have revealed irregular contracts worth almost R13-billion have so far been awarded to various suppliers and service providers.

The government, through former transport minister Dipuo Peters, tried to derail the investigations. She ordered Molefe to have them stopped, saying they were a waste of taxpayers' money.

In March, she fired Molefe and his board as he was about to launch legal proceedings against the Hawks for failing to act on more than 39 allegations of corruption reported to them by Prasa.

Molefe, who has described Prasa as a "farm" which politically connected cadres had reaped for many years, was reinstated with his board last month after a court ruled that the minister's actions were "unlawful and irrational".

But he says the campaign to oust him and incapacitate his board has continued under new minister Joe Maswanganyi, with the assistance of the Black Business Council (BBC), which has put pressure on him to go although his term expires at the end of July. He says it "boggles my mind" that they should be trying so urgently to get rid of him when he has to leave in two months anyway.

"I'm asking myself what is it that they're so scared of in the remaining two months that they would want me to get out of the way?" He says he can "only surmise" that it has something to do with the court cases he has brought to overturn multibillion-rand contracts he says were rigged.

One of the cases was heard earlier this month. It was thrown out by the judge because the application to have it heard was made too late, but Molefe says this isn't the end of it. The other case is due to be heard in June.

"For some reason they think if I'm not there, something may happen to those cases," he says.

Molefe, 65, a leader of the 1976 student uprising, founding member of the United Democratic Front, former premier of North West province and an ANC veteran, says there is nothing new about radical economic transformation. It was central to the socioeconomic policies the government introduced after 1994, he says.

But if the ability of state-owned enterprises like Prasa to be engines of radical economic transformation are undermined by the government the way Prasa has been, then it is just empty sloganeering.

"You can't talk about radical economic transformation if you don't see a critical instrument such as Prasa as being central to the advancement of policy transforming the economy and making it inclusive."

Underpinning radical economic transformation are skills development, job creation, procurement of components for rolling stock from local factories, and empowering historically disadvantaged people "in a variety of ways, including integrating them into the economy".

But this can't happen if state-owned entities are undermined by the kind of government actions that have incapacitated Prasa. "The government has got to understand that there is a dialectic between the pronouncements they make and their day-to-day conduct, the conduct of the SOEs, of officials and politicians.

"If that conduct impedes what you are saying then it's a meaningless slogan simply mouthed because it sounds good or looks good in the media."

Prasa has a budget of R173-billion over 20 years from the taxpayer, he says. "Nobody should be allowed to play games by delaying that programme, which will stimulate economic growth inside South Africa, create jobs, skill our people and promote what we keep reciting as if it is a ritual — an inclusive economy or radical economic transformation."

Molefe says nobody, including the minister or the BBC, which he believes has been acting at the behest of the minister to pressure him to leave Prasa, will explain to him why it is so important to have him gone.

He was told by an MP that moves would be made to "isolate" him within the board so that he wouldn't be able to do anything. Since then directors have been "lobbied" to go, and two have resigned, so that the board is no longer properly constituted.

"This at a very critical time when the company has to submit annual financials, table the annual report and financial statement to parliament. They want to have a board that is incapable of discharging its fiduciary duties.

"Then you ask yourself: if you have people who are supposed to uphold the constitution and laws of the country, why would they want an entity created in terms of a statute of the parliament of which they are members to fail to do its work? What is their interest in wanting this entity to fail?" He says the minister should have forced the two directors to exercise their fiduciary duties.

"They were appointed until the end of July. They know they have to account for the financial year just ended. They can't jump ship before they account. If I were the minister, I would not have allowed them to go before discharging their obligations."

He asked the minister for an explanation, but "he can't give me an answer". He can't explain this attitude "unless it's in his interests that the board not be functional".

Who benefits?

"That's the question we must ask. This board must do its work to ensure that rail transportation is improved and a correct business model is developed. This is the work we have been trying to do and it has been interrupted by this kind of conduct."

Following former Prasa CEO Lucky Montana's axing in 2015, the Prasa board laid criminal complaints relating to tenders worth more than R7-billion awarded during his tenure.

Does he want Montana arrested?

"The police must do their job. They've got enough evidence, enough information, Clearly, they are refusing to act. We are saying arrest those who have been siphoning public resources.

"If they don't, then they must explain to the South African public why they are reluctant to discharge their constitutional mandate. They've got no excuses."

Meanwhile, the passenger services which the agency he chairs is supposed to be providing have gone from terrible to more terrible.

He admits that Metrorail is "a disgrace". But he says there is a turnaround plan.

Members of parliament's transport oversight committee said recently that they doubted Prasa's ability to implement it. "I don't think they have good intentions," says Molefe. "These are the same members who ask why are we investigating corruption?"

The committee gave him and the board of Prasa no support when they were under attack from, and then were fired by, the minister, he says.

"They ignored us. They thought they were free not to do anything because they've got a big brother somewhere who is removing those who say they must account."

At the launch of the new Prasa train, Zuma appealed to people to stop burning trains.

But Molefe fears that "our failure to make Prasa work can unleash forces of anarchy that nobody will be able to control. If we fail to provide transport we will see lawlessness experienced across the country. The people will burn trains like they are burning schools and killing."

He is "not ready to disown the ANC, but the red flags are out there". He says if it ignores the warnings and continues on its present path then it deserves to lose the 2019 election.

"We were elected to serve the interests of our people. If we refuse to do so then we must go," he says.