Morale at Prasa derailed, say protesting staff
DAGGERS have been drawn among senior employees at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) over the axing of former chief executive Lucky Montana.
The stand-off between the two groups of senior employees reached boiling point yesterday when members of one group abandoned work to demonstrate outside the head office in Hatfield, Pretoria, calling for Montana to be reinstated.
He was shown the door last month amid the scandal over Prasa’s new Spanish-manufactured Afro4000 locomotives, which are said to be too tall for local rail infrastructure.
Officials had called a media conference to talk about “the state of paralysis in the organisation”, but security guards had prevented reporters from entering the premises.
Agency senior employee Moffet Mofokeng then became embroiled in a scuffle with a security guard. He was allegedly thrown out of the boardroom where the media conference was to be held.
Mofokeng called for the government to intervene to stop the “anarchy that is happening” at the agency. “Everyone who is perceived to be close to Montana is being targeted.”
Group stakeholder relations and parliamentary liaison manager Anele Mda said employees “felt disengaged and paralysed by fear”. She read out a memorandum of grievances, which is due to be forwarded to the Presidency.
Mda said staff morale was low since Montana was fired.
“We have been silenced. We aren’t going to keep quiet anymore,” she said, adding that the memorandum had been circulated to the more than 17 000 employees.
She said she had also been targeted and accused of advancing political issues in stakeholder meetings.
Employee relations manager Sello Maluleke said some executives, who faced disciplinary hearings during Montana’s tenure, had returned after Montana was fired.
She accused the board of meddling in “operational matters instead of giving strategic guidance to the agency”.
Mda said Prasa had lied to the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union that it wasn’t considering retrenching people.
Agency spokesman Sipho Sithole said senior managers shouldn’t get involved in either the hiring or firing of chief executives.
“It isn’t a matter we can deal with; it is a board matter,” he said.
Board chairman Popo Molefe declined to comment and referred all enquiries back to Sithole.
Mda said the employees were against the manner in which former head engineer Daniel Mthimkhulu was treated even though he had lied about his qualifications.
He has been suspended, and a criminal case has been opened against him.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is due to release a report on Monday regarding a probe into allegations of maladministration relating to financial mismanagement, tenders and appointments at Prasa.
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