Letsoalo not welcome here, says Prasa chairman
PASSENGER Rail Agency SA board chairman Popo Molefe has a simple message for disgraced acting group chief executive Collins Letsoalo: “You are not welcome here.”
Letsoalo had sent a defiant e-mail to the agency’s board on Tuesday insisting he was going nowhere.
This was after being sent packing by the board when it was revealed that he had orchestrated a 350% pay rise for himself.
The Sunday Times revealed at the weekend that in addition to his R5.9million package‚ he also demanded a chauffeur.
Molefe said yesterday he would not tolerate Letsoalo’s nonsense.
“Our position is simple. Mr Letsoalo was never our employee,” Molefe said.
“He was on secondment and we are sending him back to his employer‚ the Transport Department.
“We expect the department to institute disciplinary proceedings for bringing Prasa into disrepute.”
He said Letsoalo had been “ducking and diving” a letter [terminating] his secondment‚ “which we had the power and authority to write”.
Molefe said: “We attempted to have the letter served on him‚ only to find that he had issued his PA instructions to receive it.
“It doesn’t work like that and, while his PA has a copy, we will ensure that he also receives his copy.”
But Letsoalo said there was no need for him to leave his job as only Transport Minister Dipuo Peters‚ who seconded him to the position‚ could remove him.
Molefe responded: “All his blustering is playing to a gallery.
“Our other message to him is: find yourself another gallery to play to because we are not listening.”
It is understood that security at Prasa’s head office has been given strict instructions to stop him from entering the building. His office has also been locked. Transport spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said Prasa’s board had been instructed to respond to the minister by tomorrow on the goings-on in the agency.
“At this stage, this is our only response,” he said. “Once the minister has Prasa’s report on the matter, she will make a decision on the next step to be taken.”
He refused to say whether Letsoalo had returned to his former position in the department or was still on secondment to Prasa.
Letsoalo’s secondment was ended on Monday after he called a media conference in response to a Sunday Times article stating that he had inflated his salary from the R1.3million he was receiving while at the department to R5.9-million – the salary of a permanently employed Prasa chief executive.
He claimed the Prasa board had approved his pay rise‚ but the board denied the claim and sent him back to the department in disgrace.
During an interview with Xolani Gwala on Radio 702 yesterday‚ Letsoalo denied that the Prasa board had the power to fire him‚ despite his signature on a contract with a clause saying it could do just that.
Letsoalo did not report to Prasa’s offices for work yesterday.
Molefe said the Department of Transport would be held financially liable for Letsoalo’s massive salary increase.
He said the board would demand that the department pay the difference between Letsoalo’s agreed salary of R1.3-million and the R5.9-million he had awarded himself.
“The monies paid to the department by Prasa must be returned immediately.
“What [Letsoalo] did was a misrepresentation. To say I am not disappointed would be a lie,” Molefe said.
“I thought we had a dynamic young man who was actioned‚ who I thought we could work with‚ whose ideas for a turnaround had started to crystallise.”
He said he would give a report on the affair to Peters today.
He also confirmed that company secretary Lindikhaye Zide had been appointed acting chief executive of Prasa in Letsoalo’s place. – TMG Digital