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Opinionista

For Prasa top brass, that gravy train is always right on time

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This is the story of Prasa, three black Mercedes Benz S600s, and thousands of commuters who struggle to get to work on time.

The large, shiny black Mercedes Benz S600, with its tinted windows, was parked behind the orange-coloured cone in the no-parking zone in front of the main entrance of Prasa House. Inside the vehicle sat two men wearing black suits, black ties and white shirts. They were waiting patiently to chauffeur their boss, Khanyisile Kweyama, who, inside the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (Prasa) head office, was getting ready to address the few journalists that had responded to the “closed media invitation”.

New, a similar vehicle retails for R2.7-million, according to Mercedes Benz SA’s website. In such luxury and comfort does the chairman of the embattled train operator move around, driven by the two men, at the expense of Prasa. Whether on Prasa business or not, Kweyama sits at the back while Prasa employees drive her around in total comfort. Only, Prasa pays for all this extravagance.

A similar vehicle, and a dedicated driver, is reserved to chauffeur Nkosinathi Sishi, the acting chief executive of Prasa, around. Yet another similar luxury car awaits their use in a parking basement in Cape Town.

This is in complete contrast to the millions of commuters who push, shove and squeeze their way into overcrowded train coaches to get to work. Others, like the man who last week posted on social media a video of himself and hundreds of others dangling dangerously out of open doors and windows of moving trains, hanging on for dear life.

Look, my children, how hard that I have to hang like this on a train in order to get to work. I can die anytime on the train, look they are squeezing me every side. I can die anytime in the train,” said the jovial man, to the laughter of those commuters dangling alongside him, hanging over the railway tracks while the train gathers speed.

Still, these are among the luckiest of Metrorail train commuters. For their train did arrive and was on course to deposit them at their destination to report for work.

Prasa has admitted that its services have deteriorated to such an extent that only half of the scheduled trains depart or arrive on time, resulting in a mass exodus of passengers from its service. In July transport minister Fikile Mbalula berated the utility for achieving only 31% of its own performance targets, while other internal management reports paint a dismal picture of a company dying at the hands of management.

Yet, the government continues to contribute more than R5-billion in annual subsidies to help Prasa meet its mandate of ferrying millions of train commuters to work daily.

Back to Prasa House.

Without any procurement or governance processes, these three luxury German sedans were acquired by Lucky Montana, the utility’s last permanent chief executive officer, in 2015.

Staff members say Montana purchased the vehicles in order to ingratiate himself to then-chairman Popo Molefe, who was spearheading an investigation into irregularities in Prasa’s flawed and corrupt R3.5-billion procurement of locomotives from Spanish company Vossloh España, through Swifambo Rail Leasing. The Supreme Court of Appeal eventually ruled the “tender was procured through corruption,” and fingered Montana, among others.

After Molefe declined to use the luxury vehicles, they lay gathering dust at the Hatfield, Pretoria head office, as well as in Cape Town. Various executive managers, including a former acting chief executive, have since 2017 tried in vain to have the vehicles sold off, in order to channel the much-needed funds back to Prasa’s operations. A board resolution would be required to sell off the vehicles.

Thus the German-made machines lay gathering dust for three years. That is, until Kweyama came into the picture after her appointment as interim chairman by former transport minister Blade Nzimande in April 2018.

Since July that year, Kweyama and Sishi, the seventh interim chief executive since 2015, have been enjoying the executive treatment in the back seats of the shiny Mercedes Benzes

Asked why she is being driven around in Prasa vehicles, and whether she knew these were procured irregularly, Kweyama pleaded ignorance of any irregularity in their acquisition.

She laid the blame on former Prasa company secretary and one-time acting chief executive Lindikhaya Zide, as the one who told her the vehicle, driver and bodyguard were reserved for the use of the board chairman.

I was taken to the basement where I was shown the vehicle. I declined the use of the vehicle then and advised Prasa that I would continue using my personal vehicle — which I did,” said Kweyama in a written email to Daily Maverick.

Asked what justified this luxury at the expense of Prasa, Kweyama said: “Security is not a luxury. There is no irregular and wasteful expenditure as my security detail is made up of employees of Prasa who were employed long before my time. They provided security service to the former board chairperson as well as Prasa property.”

Kweyama said she keeps receiving threats that point to her work at Prasa, and one as recently as July 2019. She, therefore, is entitled to the benefit.

Documentation from Prasa, however, suggests otherwise.

In a December 2017 management message to the board, Zide had this to say on the matter of the vehicles:

Management has identified the following low hanging fruits: Strengthening the Disposal Policy. Disposing of the three luxury Mercedes Benz Vehicles, which were purchased in direct violation of Government austerity measures and whose continued possession by Prasa is not in keeping with Government’s injunction for prudence during these tough economic times. Disposing of the costly ‘Body Guard’ culture for CEOs.”

This was before Kweyama’s arrival at Prasa.

In a similar management report to the board, around the time she alleges Zide gave her the vehicle to use, Zide submitted a proposal to the board’s disposal committee, saying “the three luxury cars” are part of “items that do not fit in Prasa’s strategy”. He said their disposal would yield immediate and long-term savings and generate revenue for the train operator.

The three luxury cars fit into this category, they are non-essential, inappropriate (they send the wrong message of profligacy — when belt-tightening is required) and keeping them is costly,” wrote Zide in a May 2018 management report to the board.

In this regard, I submit the disposal of the three luxury Mercedes Benzes to the disposal committee of Prasa for disposal.”

They were not.

Instead, Zide was charged and dismissed for concluding an irregular agreement that would have seen Prasa deposit R1-billion with the VBS Mutual Bank, which fell into curatorship and liquidation after the failure of the proposed deal. Zide was also implicated in irregularly extending a contract for KG Media in 2012. He told Daily Maverick he is challenging his dismissal on the grounds of unfairness.

But another incident required the use of the vehicles.

In July 2018, I was kidnapped, and the incident was widely publicised. Following the incident, Prasa security commissioned a security assessment by (the) SAPS,” Kweyama told Daily Maverick. From that assessment a recommendation was made for Kweyama to have a full security detail and company vehicle, she said.

The SABC reported at the time that Kweyama had been hijacked near her Houghton, Johannesburg home while driving from a board meeting at the broadcaster. She was allegedly bundled into the boot of her car and driven around for three hours before she and her vehicle were dumped in Katlehong, reported the SABC. She was also chairman of the broadcaster’s interim board at the time.

About being driven in the luxurious German sedan, Sishi had this to say:

Prasa corporate security has the responsibility to safeguard information, passengers, personnel and assets of the organisation. This responsibility includes conducting security risk, threat and vulnerability assessments.” He said he “only has driver, not a bodyguard”. Sishi denied the vehicle had been irregularly acquired.

Judging by the prevalence of crime affecting the train passengers whom Sishi is meant to be serving, this protection seems to be limited to the worthy executives at the head office.

A total of 997 asset-related and 143 passenger-related incidents were recorded for the first quarter of financial 2020,” said Prasa in a management report for the period ending June.

Robbery accounted for the majority of passenger-related incidents, followed by assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.”

The gravy train at the head office, however, is never unsafe or late.

At Prasa, the presence, and now the use of the vehicles, has always stirred controversy.

Some disgruntled employees have told Daily Maverick that Kweyama is not paying tax on the fringe benefit she derives from the use of the vehicle and bodyguards. They also point out that she uses the vehicles all the time, whether she is on Prasa business or not. Thus they rack up running costs, including fuel and e-toll costs for Prasa, for no benefit to the utility.

Kweyama, for her part, remains defiant and sticks to the German sedan and the personal protection she receives from Prasa employees:

The bodyguard and driver are Prasa employees who perform other duties. I comply with all tax requirements and laws of the country. As a tax-compliant citizen, I have a tax clearance certificate confirming compliance. Income Tax Act prohibits public disclosure of tax information.”

Current acting CEO Sishi also provided a similarly worded response when asked about the luxury vehicle he is chauffeured around in.

Except, the tax law does not prohibit anyone from divulging their own tax affairs.

Kweyama also pleaded ignorance of the real status of the three luxury vehicles. Asked if she was aware that Prasa executives have always tried to dispose of the vehicles, Kweyama responded:

No. To whom did they make such a recommendation?”

She was the board chairman to whom Zide’s May 2018 report was addressed.

Daily Maverick, however, is aware the auditor-general has again flagged the lack of control around the use of the vehicles for the year ended March 2019. According to a draft audit option seen by Daily Maverick, no logbooks are being kept and there’s no control on how and what the executive vehicles are used for.

While performing audit procedures on the fuel transactions, it was noted that Prasa vehicles have been used on dates, times and locations which indicates that these vehicles may have been used for personal use,” reads a draft audit opinion that will be published with the financial results due in August 2019. The auditor-general took a sample of vehicles, and among those are vehicles tagged as belonging to the chief executive’s office and those marked “CORP SEC PROT S,” most likely meaning “corporate security protection services”.

The auditor-general says the non-disclosure of these fringe benefits results in non-compliance with certain sections of the Income Tax Act, the very tax law Kweyama cites as her defence against divulging whether she pays the tax on this benefit.

This further results in non-compliance with Section 57 of the PFMA and therefore there is a risk that irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure may be understated in the financial statements,” reads the draft audit opinion.

So, while the mostly working-class commuters who rely on the Prasa service to get them to work have to contend with only 50% of the trains picking them up and arriving at their destination as scheduled, the shiny German sedans outside Prasa House are always on time.

On 16 August, while this reporter was concluding a conversation with Kweyama at the entrance to Prasa House, after almost three hours inside the media briefing, the two suited bodyguards were waiting patiently by the vehicle while a personal assistant was on hand to help the non-executive chairman by carrying her files and assisting with minor details and her mobile phones.

This gravy train never arrives late. DM

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