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The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has failed to table its 2016/17 financial report – which is already eight months overdue – before Parliament.
The state-owned entity was supposed to table the report on Tuesday, but told Parliament’s portfolio committee on transport to only expect the report on June 12.
Earlier in the day, Prasa board members snubbed a scheduled parliamentary portfolio committee on transport meeting where they were meant to appear alongside Transport Minister Blade Nzimande to account about the department’s performance and Prasa’s failure to submit its financial report.
The board’s absence infuriated Members of Parliament, led by DA’s spokesperson on transport, Manny de Freitas, who expressed great displeasure.
When the board members, led by chair Khanyisile Kweyama and newly appointed group chief executive Sibusiso Sithole, finally decided to grace the committee with their presence, they told the committee that the overdue report would be “finalised by their audit committee on June 12”.
Kweyama explained that the further delay was due to the “appointment of new management” as well as “staff vacancies and audit compliance problems”.
The Prasa board conceded that it expects a qualified audit opinion “and nothing else” for the 2016/17 unreleased financials.
Sithole and Kweyama said there was a ray of sunshine on the horizon, though.
Having appointed five acting group chief executives in the last 34 months, the appointment of Kweyama as chairperson of the board in April, and the newly appointed Sithole should bring stability to the embattled state-owned entity.
According to Kweyama there was no doubt that the damage at the rail agency was “immense and morale among staff is low”.
However, she promised to draw on her own successful endeavour that saw her and appointed interim board members stabilise the SABC.
Kweyama chaired the interim board of the public broadcaster following the collapse of the board chaired by Professor Mbulaheni Maguvhe and played a pivotal role in stabilising it, undoing some of the mess caused by executives such as Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Earlier in the day, the DA’s De Freitas quizzed Nzimande on how Sithole had been appointed as the CEO “when he got into trouble financially, both personally and professionally”.
Nzimande responded by assuring MPs that even though Sithole had faced financial troubles before, he had not been charged, arrested or found to be corrupt.
Kweyama promised MPs that the state-owned entity would have a new turnaround strategy by next month which would be tabled before the committee.
After announcing the appointment of Sithole as group chief executive on Tuesday morning, the parastatal also announced that military veterans would be integrated into security at Prasa as part of the investment into the modernisation programme of R173 billion announced last year.
