South Africa’s passenger rail service placed under administration

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), has been placed under financial administration and its board dissolved by the nation’s Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula. 

Mbalula has appointed Bongisizwe Mpondo as PRASA’s administrator and de facto Board of Control. The responsibilities of the group’s acting CEO, Dr Sishi, have been withdrawn and incorporated within the role of the administrator. 

Government intervention will continue for 12 months until a permanent board is appointed to run the troubled rail service. 

This action followed the Government Technical Advisory Centre’s assessment report, compiled in conjunction with a number of managers. 

"Based on this report and other considerations, we arrived at a conclusion that PRASA has deep-rooted challenges that require decisive interventions at leadership and management levels. Merely replacing an interim Board with a permanent Board will not address the deep-rooted fault lines at PRASA," the Transport Minister said to a media briefing in Johannesburg on Monday.

The Minister continued that Mr Mpondo has all the credentials needed to turn PRASA around and address its operational deficiencies. 

Mr Mpondo is an entrepreneur with an extensive record of working with public institutions to remedy operational difficulties. He served on the boards of the East London Industrial Development Zone; South African Express; South African Airways and the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency.