The Portfolio Committee on Transport has today received an update briefing on the processes the Department of Transport is taking to implement the remedial actions as recommended in the Public Protector’s report into governance challenges at Prasa (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa).

The Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, said the assurances by Minister Joe Maswanganyi on the kind of work and ongoing investigations at the entity was most welcomed.

The objective is to have fully functional entities that provide reliable and quality services to our people. We can’t have captured entities in such an important sector as transport, Ms Magadzi said.

Of concern to the Committee is these multiple investigations that no one seems to know what stage they are at. The Public Protector was clear in her remedial action that the Auditor-General and National Treasury should do the investigations, Ms Magadzi said.

She said the Committee is concerned about the plethora of service providers doing the same work the state entities are doing. The major concern is that there is no budget for these service providers in the previous financial year.

Today the Committee received an update on what the department has been doing following the Derailed report and the roaming claims of state capture. Minister Joe Maswanganyi informed the Committee that last week he met with the Public Protector to appraise her of what work has been carried out since the release of the report.

The National Treasury has investigated more than 100 contracts at Prasa as a result of the Public Protector’s Derailed report.

Source: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa