The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) and its passenger rail sector affiliate the United National Transport Union (Untu) have expressed outrage at the appointment of Cromet Molepo as acting CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of South (Prasa) and called on the public protector to investigate the appointment.
Molepo was appointed by the new Prasa board to replace former acting CEO Lindikhaya Zide, whose six-month contract lapsed at the end of September. Zide had replaced controversial acting CEO Collins Letsoalo who had awarded himself a permanent CEO’s salary of R5.9 million after being seconded to the position by former transport minister Dipuo Peters.
“The new board, which was only appointed in October 2017, could never have had the opportunity to evaluate possible suitable candidates to enable them to make a recommendation as to who should be appointed as acting CEO. They simply did not have the time or enough board meetings since their own appointment,” Untu general secretary Steve Harris said on Sunday.
“The board should immediately release the criteria they followed in appointing Molepo and the names of the other candidates they considered and how they decided who was the most suitable candidate; this is yet another political appointment and South Africa has already seen too many political appointments at state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to the detriment of the South African taxpayer,” Harris said.
Fedusa strongly believed that Molepo’s appointment was marred with political suspicion and further fueled the deep-rooted instability at the SoE, noting Prasa’s appointment of a third acting CEO in two years, Fedusa deputy general secretary Riefdah Ajam said.
“Are we preparing for continued self-inflicted decision-making, when Molepo’s inability to perform as newly appointed head of rail in April 2017 resulted in his return to Intersite, a division of Prasa. The board’s short-sighted decision-making and lack of strategic leadership render it equally responsible for contributing towards what may well be another junk status award [to] our SoE’s,” Ajam said.
“If Molepo’s inability to act as head of rail was evident then, how is he able to respond now to Prasa’s long-term strategy of ensuring a more efficient transportation service amid the real and imminent threat to the safety and security of our members and commuters?
“Fedusa will now intensify its efforts to have the board of directors at Prasa declared delinquent in light of this clear mismanagement and lack of good governance, following the federation’s congress resolutions to pursue strategies that could result in the prosecution of errant company directors who fail to comply with their obligations set out in the Companies Act, 2008. Moreover, Fedusa will actively advocate for the public availability of the register of delinquent directors to expose and shame corrupt practices and associated delinquent directors,” Ajam said.
Harris said there was a high probability that another can of worms could be opened if the public protector did a thorough job in probing the circumstances leading to the appointment of Molepo.
“There is also a great need for accountability by management, given the fact that nothing was done to remedy the situation at Prasa following the release of the ‘Derailed’ report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela more than two years ago, which probed allegations of corruption and maladministration at the passenger rail agency.
“Enough is enough. Down with all irregularities and political influence at Prasa. The brakes must be applied with vigilance, as service delivery to commuters reliant on a deplorable service on a daily basis and Untu members faced with harassment, robberies, and fatalities has become unbearable,” Harris said.
– African News Agency (ANA
