Molefe presses on with Prasa’s tender probe
THE Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has stuck to its guns by continuing to probe a R14 billion tender, despite earlier attempts by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters to block it.
Prasa chairperson Popo Molefe told MPs yesterday he held discussions with Peters on Monday where she agreed the investigation by a law firm should continue.
Molefe said there was a deep-seated rot at Prasa and they wanted to get to the bottom of it. He said the findings of the auditor-general and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela last year into corruption at Prasa were just the tip of the iceberg.
He denied there was a fight between him and Peters after the latter tried to block an investigation into the R14bn tender.
Molefe told MPs that despite Peters’s earlier call for the investigation to be stopped, they later agreed that it should continue. He said Peters was concerned about the cost of the investigation, but the probe by the law firm will continue.
“What was the scope of the investigation (by the law firm)? We had to take a range of issues raised by the auditor-general. In the process this case became much bigger than we thought, revealing much bigger things,” said Molefe.
Prasa was briefing the portfolio committee on transport on its programmes when MPs posed tough questions on the agency’s poor performance.
But Molefe declined to comment on his affidavit in court that R80m was channelled by one of the contractors of the multibillion-rand tender to the ANC.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe denied yesterday the party had received R80m. The money had allegedly been from the suppliers of locomotives, Swifambo Rail Leasing.
Mantashe said the ANC did not get a cent of the amount.
Molefe told MPs the matter was now in the hands of the courts.
He said his affidavit on the funds channelled to the party was a basis to challenge some of the contracts.
“Where are we with the investigations, we have two major applications before the courts. We don’t want to get into details (over) money (that) was paid to this one or that one. This is not a negative story in the media, it is a positive story that Prasa is firm in dealing with fraud and corruption.”
In his discussions with Peters, Molefe said, she was concerned about millions spent on a law firm investigating corruption at Prasa.
He said there was close collaboration between the Hawks and the NPA in this investigation on tender irregularity.