Two people, one a current Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa employee and another, a former employee of the agency, have been arrested for allegedly being in possession of stolen assets, worth almost R2 million in value, belonging to PRASA.
The two were arrested by the Organised Crime Unit of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Protection Services of PRASA this past weekend.
The arrests follow an intense investigation by the unit of the SAPS and PRASA security personnel, which also included a warrant to search the premises of the manufacturing company.
Twelve points machines and 50 signal tuning units, all belonging to PRASA, have been recovered.
“One of the suspects is an employee of PRASA at management level at one signal depot in the Germiston area in the city of Ekurhuleni. The other is a former PRASA manager, who now owns and runs an electrical and railway equipment supply company,” PRASA said.
The two suspects were detained at Elsburg SAPS and are expected to appear at a local magistrate’s court on Monday. The investigation continues and further arrests are possible.
The two arrests are part of numerous other arrests that have taken place since the appointment of the acting head of PRASA Protection Services, retired Brigadier-General Tebogo Rakau, earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the process to recruit 3 100 security personnel at PRASA continues.
This follows PRASA Administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo’s decision to insource security personnel after several security contracts were terminated by PRASA.
“The contracts were found by the offices of the Public Protector and the Auditor-General to have been irregular. Four PRASA employees were dismissed last month as a result of their involvement in the procurement of the irregular contracts,” PRASA said.
The 3 100 new recruits are expected to commence their guard duties in August 2020.