Prasa a financial train wreck — report

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) was on the verge of financial collapse at the end of the last financial year when it made a previously undisclosed loss of R1.7bn.

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) was on the verge of financial collapse at the end of the last financial year when it made a previously undisclosed loss of R1.7bn.

The accumulated loss at the end of March 2017 was R4.4bn.

This has emerged from a leaked report of the auditorgeneral (AG) related to the 2016/2017 financial statements, details of which were disclosed by DA transport spokesperson Mannie de Freitas and DA police spokesperson Zakhele Mbhele at a media briefing on Tuesday.

Prasa has still not tabled its annual report for the 2016/2017 financial year even though it was required to do so by endSeptember of 2017 by the Public Finance Management Act.

The agency has been wracked by allegations of corruption related to the procurement of rolling stock. According to the AG, Prasa did not have an adequate system for identifying irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The AG also noted that the majority of tenders went through a system that “is not fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective”. De Freitas said the DA would lay criminal charges under the Public Finance Management Act against the interim and current Prasa board.