The Citizen (KZN)

De Freitas hits out at Peters

- Citizen Reporter

The DA said former transport minister Dipou Peters has contradict­ed herself on former acting CEO of Prasa Collins Letsoalo’s “350% wage increase”.

The DA said in a written response to a parliament­ary question, Peters revealed that Letsoalo was “eligible to receive all the benefits applicable to this position”, which includes an annual salary of almost R6 million or roughly R500 000 per month.

Manny de Freitas, the DA’s shadow minister of transport, said this response is a clear contradict­ion of the secondment letter which Peters sent to Letsoalo and the board of Prasa on July 7, last year in which she allegedly said Letsoalo’s remunerati­on package would remain unchanged at R1.3 million per annum, plus an additional 12% acting allowance.

“The former minister has, therefore, either misreprese­nted herself in her response to the DA, or she was untruthful in her secondment confirming that Letsoalo would earn R1.3 million per annum,” De Freitas said.

He added that Peters had a constituti­onal obligation to answer parliament­ary questions truthfully, and she also had an obligation to be transparen­t and honest.

“She must now account for this obvious discrepanc­y and if she is found to have been less than truthful, the DA will ensure that she is held to account. Entities of the department of Transport under the leadership of Peters have lurched from one crisis to another, due, in large part, to overpaid and underperfo­rming CEOs, who enjoyed undue protection from the former minister while ordinary workers continue to fight for better wages,” De Freitas added.

He said unions that represent Prasa employees have for the past two months threatened to go on strike. “Yet, the former minister thought it was appropriat­e for the acting CEO to earn close to R6 million per annum. The DA will not allow Peters or Letsoalo to escape accountabi­lity on this matter,” De Freitas said.

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