The Portfolio Committee on Transport has resolved to establish a Committee inquiry into matters at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).
The resolution follows a two-day briefing from Prasa on governance challenges and the recent axing of the Acting Group Chief Executive, Mr Collins Letsoalo (who had been seconded from the Department of Transport).
Committee Member Mr Pat Sibande noted the contradictions raised by the Prasa Board and Mr Letsoalo. “The bombs are coming out. There is no difference between the SABC Board and this one (Prasa Board). The contradictions are just too many. Board Members are not paying back the money. They are not paying back the bonuses. There has to be an investigation committee on this one,” he said.
Committee Member Mr Christiaan Hunsinger proposed that an Ad hoc Committee, as per the rules of the National Assembly, be established on Prasa. “This thing needs to be investigated. We cannot afford this and it is unfair to our commuters,” Mr Humsinger said.
Committee Member Mr Leonard Ramatlakane supported the idea of an inquiry, but said the rules allowed the Committee to conduct its own inquiry. “We need to do more work. The Committee is empowered to do an investigation. We could take a resolution as per the rules and powers invested in the Committee and establish an investigation.”
Committee Member Mr Joe Maswanganyi requested that the matter be deferred to the next meeting where the terms of reference and the composition of the inquiry will be decided.
The Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, agreed with this suggestion and said that the matter will be fine tuned at the next meeting.
The Committee also received a briefing on progress and challenges at Metrorail.
Sibongile Maputi
8 March 2017
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