PRETORIA, March 17 (ANA) – The North Gauteng High Court on Friday, reserved his judgement against the urgent application made by ousted Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) board member Popo Molefe asking the court to order Transport Minister Dipuo Peters reinstate the axed board.
Peters dissolved the board on March 8, after it removed former acting CEO Collins Letsoalo from his position earlier this month after he had increased his salary by at least 350 percent to R5.9 million.
David Unterhalter, for Molefe, told the court that the minister acted irrational in the removal of the board and behaved outside the boundaries of legality.
He said the Minister’s decision was an abuse of power and irrational exercise of statutory power.
He further emphasised that the board controls Prasa, Letsoalo’s mandate included him reporting to the board and they had the powers to remove him.
“The board had ample reason to fire Letsoalo. They used the provisions of Letsoalo’s appointment to dismiss him.”
Letsoalo is accused of giving himself an increase that saw his salary sitting at R5.9mln annually. The board claims he didn’t go through the remuneration committee to get a salary increment.
Unterhalter said if its anything, the board took concrete steps in bringing to account those who threaten the well-being of Prasa.
The court heard that the Minister lacked caution and acted impulsively in her decision because she even “removed” people who were no longer board members.
“She just removed the board with total lack of discretion, she removed people who were no longer even part of the board members,” he said.
Etienne Lubaschagne, for Peters, challenged Unterhalter’s argument and told the court that the removal of the board was already on the cards as there was already a history of decline and failure to deliver by the board.
“There was a good cause for the removal of the board. Maladministration and irregular expenditure flourished and were increasing. The dismissal of the state of Prasa is due to the lack of oversight by the board,” Lubaschagne said.
“The board has been censured for more that a year by the Minister for the decreasing performance of Prasa under its watch. The board failed to establish proper financial risk management and procurement systems as required by the Public Finance Management.”
He said the board also approved payments to itself which have been found to be irregular. He said the Minister and parliament have demanded repayment of the money and the board refused to pay.
Lubaschagne took a spin on the matter and told the court that after Letsoalo’s appointment, he placed proper financial, risk and procurement system.
“He irked the board by demanding repayment of the irregular payments it made to itself,” said Lubaschagne.
Speaking outside court, Molefe said he is not affected by what Letsoalo says and it means nothing to him.
“I’m a professional and I know that in the life that I’ve lived, I’ve come across these sorts of people who would make wild allegations and even lie, it’s not what I’m going to chase after, those are small issues,” Molefe told reporters.
“We have substantive issues about respect for our constitution, lawfulness of the actions of the Minister and the rationality, that’s what our case has been.”
Molefe blamed Prasa’s shortcoming on the Minister’s inability to appoint a permanent CEO. He also dismissed claims that the board owes money.
“There is money that was paid to the directors for extra work they have done. It is a principle that operates in listed and non listed companies.”
Earlier, Letsoalo’s application to be one of the respondents in the matter was dismissed with costs.
Judge Peter Mabuse said he was not convinced that Letsoalo should be part of the proceedings because he didn’t posses sufficient interests in the matter.
Letsaolo claimed that he wanted an opportunity to clear his name as he believes his image has been tarnished.
– African News Agency (ANA)
