By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is facing intense opposition from unions regarding planned retrenchments of over 500 employees, initiating Section 189 consultation processes.
The Unions are fighting the job cuts, which stem from financial strain and operational challenges.
A 1-year wage agreement reached in mid-2025 initially included a “no-retrenchment” clause for that specific term, but the threat has re-emerged as the financial crisis persists.
The agreement included a 5.5% salary increase on the Total Guaranteed Package (TGP) for all PRASA bargaining grade employees. It was implemented in the August 2025 payroll.
In terms of the agreement, PRASA has made the following commitments:
- No mandatory retrenchments will be undertaken during the period of this agreement.
- Allowances outside the TGP structure will be referred to the PRASA Bargaining Forum (PBF) for further engagement. These discussions will be facilitated by the CCMA.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) described the planned cuts as unacceptable and warned that they would fight the move through negotiations, legal channels and possible industrial action if necessary.
The Union Secretary General Jack Mazibuko says that cutting jobs will not solve PRASA’s problems and will only add to the hardship faced by workers and their families. Many of the affected employees have worked for PRASA for years and depend on their salaries to support households.
Mazibuko says PRASA should focus on fixing the root causes of its financial troubles. These include improving security to stop cable theft and vandalism, modernising ageing trains and infrastructure, and finding new revenue streams. They believe that protecting jobs and investing in the workforce is the better path to long-term recovery.
He called for urgent meetings with management and Department of Transport to discuss alternatives to retrenchment. He added that they’re prepared to explore options such as retraining workers, improving efficiency without cutting jobs, and securing additional government support for the turnaround plan.
Meanwhile PRASA has faced significant issues related to ghost employees, with a 2021 audit revealing thousands of workers at the utility who could not be physically verified.
The Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) warned that this suspected fraud is likely to result in a material financial loss for PRASA, due to payments made to fictitious employees for no value.
However, it said this matter is no longer being pursued through AGSA’s material irregularity process.
This was revealed in AGSA’s recent presentation to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), related to PRASA’s latest financial audit outcomes.
AGSA senior manager Ilze Dippenaar praised the progress PRASA has made in addressing past audit findings, with the passenger rail utility achieving an unqualified audit opinion for the 2024/25 financial year, its first in nine years.
One material irregularity AGSA flagged was suspected fraud involving ghost employees at the utility.
Dippenaar explained that, during its audit of the financial year ended 31 March 2021, it performed data analytics and subsequent substantive procedures on PRASA’s employee database and employee-related costs.
This process identified exceptions, which potentially indicated fictitious “ghost” employees that were on the utility’s payroll.
“At the time, PRASA responded to indicate that the entity was in the process of physically verifying all employees on the payroll as part of Project Ziveze,” Dippenaar explained.
Project Ziveze (translating to “show yourself”) was launched by PRASA in November 2021 and aimed to verify all of the utility’s employees. This project is expected to lead PRASA exposing widespread issues across its employee base, with hundreds of ghost workers potentially identified.
The investigation flagged 2,143 employees, who fell in one of the following categories – possible ghost employees, workers masquerading as somebody else, fraudulent qualifications, or employees with serious criminal offences.
Dippenaar explained that PRASA implemented several internal controls, including standardised onboarding forms, mandatory integrity vetting, and monthly payroll verification.