Staff Reporter.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has confirmed that it has been served with an urgent application instituted by the former Group Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Zolani Kgosietsile Matthews, who is seeking to interdict his already finalised termination of employment.
Earlier this month, the board of PRASA unanimously resolved to terminate with immediate effect the employment contract of Matthews after an investigation by seasoned senior counsel made adverse findings against him.
The senior counsel investigated whether Matthews deliberately and intentionally failed to disclose material information to PRASA in respect of his dual citizenship.
The State Security Agency (SSA) has since declined to issue Matthews top-secret security clearance or any other security clearance.
In a statement on Wednesday, PRASA Board Chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane said the former Group CEO, amongst others, seeks to interdict the agency from communicating with the media in respect of his already concluded termination of employment.
“PRASA will vehemently oppose this meritless application and it will seek an appropriate cost order against Matthews. PRASA will only entertain media enquiries concerning this matter once the court has issued its judgment,” Ramatlakane said.
Meanwhile Prasa said several milestones have been reached on the Mabopane Recovery Project, bringing the full recovery of the Mabopane Corridor service near completion.
In a statement on Wednesday, PRASA said progress on the project was made in the last week of November and early December.
Key milestones include the rehabilitation of the overhead electrical lines that were vandalised and stolen; completion of work at 14 substations along the Mabopane line, and successfully running both the old and new electric Motor Unit (Electrical train) on both lines between Mabopane and Pretoria under the newly constructed infrastructure.
In addition, PRASA’s technical team has submitted the Safety Declaration for the perway (tracks) and the Electrical Systems to the Railway Safety Regulator.
“The team is now preparing to submit the Safety Declaration for the Signalling System to enable the Rail Safety Regulator to issue the ‘No Objection Notice’, which will lead to the next phases of trial-runs, off-peak operations, and finally, the full commercial permit to operate the new trains.
“PRASA’s technical team is pulling extra hours for the resumption of the much needed services on the Mabopane Corridor in time for peak demand. This is despite PRASA missing the end of November 2021 deadline,” the agency said.
PRASA said restoring services on the network faced difficulties at various stages of the project.
These challenges include the strike in the metal industry in October; the subsequent rolling power outages; and the unpredictable heavy rainfall that has hit Gauteng, which has resulted in the delay of the completion of the project.