Senior employees at the embattled public rail agency head office in Pretoria refused to work on Wednesday demanding the reinstatement of the agency's axed head Lucky Montana.

The striking employees were kicked out of the head office building PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa) House in Hatfield.

The gates were locked and police were called earlier after PRASA security guards allegedly manhandled the striking employees.

PRASA spokesperson Moffet Mofokeng's jacket was torn when the head of security allegedly dragged him outside the boardroom where staff was holding a meeting.

"He instructed us to vacate the boardroom but I told him he could not tell us what to do. We don't take instructions from him. He then grabbed me by the jacket and dragged me out‚" he said.

Montana was fired by the board last month amid the scandal over PRASA's new Spanish-built Afro4000 locomotives that were too tall for the local rail infrastructure.
The agency's head of engineering Daniel Mtimkulu is on suspension and a criminal case opened against him for allegedly lying about his qualifications.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will on Monday release the report into her probe into allegations of financial mismanagement and tender irregularities at PRASA.