The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has dismissed four senior officials in its Protection Services Department, who have been found guilty of procurement irregularities.
The dismissals are the culmination of a disciplinary inquiry, following allegations of impropriety in the awarding of security related tenders.
“The malfeasance in supply chain management and the Protection Services Departments has undermined Prasa’s ability to ensure the protection of its infrastructure, which is critical to the proper functioning of our passenger rail system,” Prasa Administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo said on Monday in a statement.
On Friday, the disciplinary inquiry handed down its ruling on a sanction of summary dismissal against all four of the senior officials.
According to the ruling, the senior officials violated their responsibilities, which are to ensure that Prasa maintains an appropriate procurement system, which is fair; equitable; transparent; competitive and cost effective, including ensuring that Prasa’s supply chain management system performs in relation to the prescripts of the Public Finance Management Act.
Prasa said the dismissals are yet another important milestone in the clean-up of the entity, which started when Mpondo took office in December.
Mpondo’s appointment came after Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula dissolved Prasa’s interim board and placed the entity under administration.
“Prasa will continue to address the problem of irregular procurement through capacitation of employees for better understanding of the processes as well as through consequence management, as today’s action demonstrates. We will leave no stone unturned as we root out corruption and non-compliance at Prasa,” Mpondo said.
He has encouraged all employees and the public to continue to utilise the Prasa whistleblowing hotline number 0800 026 777 and secure email: prasa@behonest.co.za
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