Gigaba lashed over Prasa board

PASSENGER Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) board chairperson Popo Molefe has accused Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba of withholding a Treasury nominee to his board and stifling corporate governance at the parastatal.

Molefe, who was reinstated to his position after a court challenge, said attempts had been in the works to isolate him since the appointment of Gigaba and Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi.

“They called non-executive directors one by one so that I remain alone because when I am alone, there will be no board to take decisions. Now there are four of us, we are supposed to be six and include the nominee from Treasury and another from the Department of Transport,” Molefe said.

“These two ministries have withheld the two nominees so that the board, which requires six people to correlate, must not have a quorum.”

Molefe said he was “surprised” by Gigaba’s statement on good governance last week when the minister announced his 14-point plan to save the country’s ailing economy.

“I listened to him speaking at the JSE, saying he wanted good, efficient state entities and good governance while he is withholding a nominee who should be on the board of Prasa to do its work. ”

Molefe was speaking at the Conference for the Future of SA, organised by several organisations including the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation. The discussion was convened to establish a plan to fight against state capture.

Molefe said when he arrived at Prasa, he realised that former chief executive Lucky Montana “had enormous power”.

“I sat him down and told him ‘you’re a bright, nice young man, but I think you have made mistakes. You seemed to have worked with people who never showed you your errors. I want you and I to work differently now, I don’t want us to delve into the past, but work together going forward’,” he said.

Molefe added that a plan was set to recover cash from service providers who supplied Prasa with the wrong locomotives, procured from Spain on Montana’s watch.

“We have sent letters of demand to Swifambo, which has told us it has no money and was being wound up, but we know that Swifambo was a front. We will get that money from the Spanish.”

Molefe has argued that the locomotives tender was unlawful and has since instituted a court move to have the R3.5 billion contract reviewed and cancelled.

The tender was awarded to Swifambo Rail Leasing in 2013 to supply Prasa with locomotives. They were made by Spanish firm Vossloh Espana.

Discussion was convened to establish a plan to fight against state capture