Transport minister ‘lied about meeting Prasa board’

The Democratic Alliance yesterday accused Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi of lying about meeting the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) board and failing to appoint a new board two months after the previous board’s term ended.

The DA will ask Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to investigate Maswanganyi for wilfully misleading parliament about meeting the Prasa board when he was appointed to the portfolio, DA spokesperson Manny de Freitas said. In a reply to a parliamentary question, Maswanganyi claimed to have met all entities’ boards and CEOs, including Prasa.

This directly contradicted statements made by previous Prasa board chairperson Popo Molefe, who stated Maswanganyi had “refused” to meet the board since his appointment as minister.

“Not only has the minister failed to meet with the previous board, and lie about it – he has failed to appoint a new board. It is two months since the previous board’s term ended.”

The failure to appoint a board had resulted in Prasa failing to table its annual report as there was uncertainty as to whether the acting CEO could be considered the accounting authority.

In a letter sent to parliament, Maswanganyi claimed that “Prasa aims to submit these documents for tabling in parliament by October 31”.

This admission on the absence of an accounting authority brought into question all other contracts, such as the R57 billion loan agreement Prasa entered into with the Export and Import Bank of China to finance the development of the Moloto Rail Development Corridor.

De Freitas said the minister must be held accountable for his continued failure to address the matter. “We call on the public protector to take urgent steps to hold the minister accountable and ensure that sanity is restored at Prasa,” he said.