/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Portfolio Committee on Transport has resolved to prioritise Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) early in 2018, so that it deals comprehensively with the governance challenges the entity faces.

The Chairperson of the Committee Ms Dikeledi Magadzi said, this was an important step to ensure that the Committee offered support, and guided the interim board on what issues the Committee had raised since 2014.

“The Committee will lift critical things that need attention of the interim board. We are happy that there will be a skills audit with the intention to fill the posts that are vacant with skilled personnel. This board has got a lot of work to do looking into matters of service delivery,” Ms Magadzi said.

“Commuters are continually complaining about services Prasa provides. This is an indication that you have a lot of work to do. It is sad to see the pictures of overcrowded trains. The priority for the interim board should be to have affordable, reliable and safe train service,” she said.

Prasa’s interim board appeared before the Committee today to account on why it had tabled its annual report late and what actions the entity was taking to deal with the alleged state capture. The board was led by its Chairperson, Advocate Tintswalo Makhubele.

Ms Magadzi said the board needed to move with speed to ensure that trains are refurbished and that challenges are resolved.

“These are service deliverables and will impact positively on socio-economic issues. The Committee is looking forward to getting an action plan and strategy that the interim board will use in dealing with the issues that had been raised,” she said.

She said the interim board should avoid a situation where it is consumed with investigations far more than its mandate of service delivery, as happened with the previous board.

She said the Committee will deal with the issue of state capture as directed by Parliament later.
 

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson, Dikeledi Magadzi