Prasa’s performance still well below par – minister
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (Prasa) board of directors is operating with only four members, but Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi says the remaining seven vacant positions will be filled by July.
Speaking on the performance of the 12 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the last quarter, Maswanganyi highlighted Prasa’s dismal performance.
The agency met 45% of their pre-determined targets in the 2015/16 financial year, a 10% in- crease from the previous year.
The minister said the presidential review committee, established to evaluate whether SOEs were responding to the developmental state agenda, had noted that recruitment of board members and executives for the entities was inadequate.
“The board of Prasa should have 11 directors but only has four.
“It runs short of seven directors. As the department, we have advertised for all vacant board positions for all entities.
“The entire SOEs, including boards and executives, will be appropriately skilled.”
“Good enterprises require capable people to run them.
“We will improve our investment in training at all levels, from managers and research scientists down to the level of ordinary workers to improve skills.”
He said he supported investigations into the rail agency’s unauthorised and irregular expenditure of R148 million, but said they had been “going on for too long”.
“We have never stopped anyone from investigating purported or allegations of maladministration and fraud in Prasa.
“There are almost nine entities investigating the agency, includ- ing National Treasury, Public Protector, the Special Investigation Unit and the Hawks.
“Prasa’s mandate is to focus on delivering trains to our people. No investigations will be interfered with.”
Other SOEs, such as the South African Maritime Safety Authority, also did not not have a fully staffed board but Maswanganyi commended their performance, saying it was above average.
The presidential review committee would hold transport entities and their leaders accountable for their performance, he added.