A turnaround strategy and the implementation of a new supply chain management policy is the number one priority of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), according to the group’s acting CEO Collins Letsoalo.

The change in policy follows a report by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela in which she detailed PRASA’s wasteful and irregular expenditure in the last financial year.

PRASA said it wanted to amend the weaknesses identified by Madonsela and will inform the board and Transport Minister Dipuo Peters about its plans to turn the company around. “We have considered the report and are implementing the Public Protector’s remedial actions,” Letsoalo said.

The agency met with Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations earlier this week to discuss its financial performance and non-performance for the 2015 – 2016 period.

PRASA board chairman Popo Molefe weighed in on financial matters and said “legacy issues” affected matters of expenditure.

Acting CEO asks for pressure to be lifted off PRASA

Letsoalo said there was difficulty in meeting the needs of South Africans due to pressure that was placed on PRASA from several government entities. He indicated that if PRASA was under less pressure it would be easier to deliver services to the country at large.

Letsoalo also explained that although PRASA did not pay tax, the company used a subsidy and was expected to pay other subsidy’s using its own. “We want this to change,” he said.

He added that the parastatal received R3.73 per passenger per trip and was expected to provide quality services and was compared to the Gautrain. “This suggests that the rich are more subsidised than the poor,” he said.

In August earlier this year, Letsoalo said the turnaround strategy was to be implemented by October 31 and indicated that it would cost the parastatal R172 billion. Part of the long-term strategy to revitalise operations includes a complete transformation of rail over the next 20 years.