Activist group #UniteBehind has promised to hold to account all local companies and individuals, as well as international companies, implicated in State capture at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).    

#UniteBehind organiser Zukiswa Vuka led a media briefing on Thursday, supported by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, where #UniteBehind shared its research and work done on State capture at PRASA.

She said the group had approached the German Consulate demanding to know what the consequences are for German companies involved in State capture in South Africa

She added that her organisation, which was representing people affected by events at PRASA, had also written to Parliament, seeking answers, as well as to the Transport Portfolio Committee, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, and the interim PRASA board.

Vuka added that her organisation had previously engaged with the two preceeding Transport Ministers on the situation at PRASA.

#UniteBehind has also been involved in litigation processes from 2010, relating to allegedly corrupt deals involving former PRASA CEO Lucky Montana. 

Vuka said her organisation will not forget about the commuters.  

Ahmed Kathrada Foundation executive director Nishan Bolton said that his organisation appreciated the work done by #UniteBehind in dealing with “one of the most outrageous acts of State capture whose consequences commuters live with day to day and probably for quite a while”.

“Engagements like this are important not so that civil society may have breaking news to break but because the insights are important for long-term reporting on issues that cannot be fixed in a day or immediately after an expose. It is about building relationships between the media and civil society so that sufficient public attention is given issues about clean and ethical governance,” he said.