The High Court in Pretoria on Monday ruled in favour of Popo Molefe and five others to be reinstated as board members of the beleaguered Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
Molefe, Zodwa Manase, Mashila Matlala, William Steenkamp and Clement Manyungwana applied to the court to be reinstated after former Transport Minister Dipuo Peters sent them letters on March 8, informing them of their removal as directors of the board.
In its ruling, the court said the matter was urgent, and set aside the axing of the board members as “final relief”. The Transport Minister was ordered to pay the costs of the application.
“The Notices of Removal issued by the First Respondent [Peters] on 8 March 2017 in respect of each of the Applicants, except the Fifth Applicant, are hereby set aside.” The fifth applicant was Xolile George who the minister was legally unable to remove because he was seconded to the board by the South African Logal Government Association.
During proceedings, Molefe’s legal team had argued that his removal and that of his colleagues was done to frustrate investigations into irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, totalling around R14 billion.
The Court appears to agree with their contention, saying, in the ruling that it was “in the public interest that the affairs of Prasa be properly regulated by an Independent Board of Control independently of any interference from the government”.
…”it is of paramount importance that corruption in Prasa be exposed and prevented. The public has an interest to fight the deep rooted corruption in the country because it compromises the democratic ethos, the institutions of democracy and gnaws at the rule of law.”
The appointment of an interim board by the former minister was also declared invalid.
Peters’ announced the dissolution of the board 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.
Peters herself was axed on March 31 as transport minister. She was replaced by Joe Maswanganyi.
In a short statement after the judgment was delivered, the transport ministry said it noted the ruling.
“We respect the judgment and we are going to study the content thereof and comment accordingly at the right time,” the ministry said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
