BizNews founder Alec Hogg caught up with journalist, researcher and author David Williams, discussing Verbalize-owned mission PRASA after CEO Zolani Matthews used to be fired over very ‘questionable’ twin citizenship grounds.”There are a pair of factors here. [He comes] in and, from what one hears, he’s seeking to place things in hiss. Now, he’s been disregarded it sounds as if for having now not declared a twin citizenship, on security grounds. That you can like to take a look at, what is so high secret about passenger rail?”
David Williams on the hiss of South Africa’s railway procedure
I’ve carried out more work on it since we remaining spoke and it right will get worse might perhaps comprise to you survey at the important parts of it. I deem the core discipline here is security, and perhaps that’s a chain beyond rail. When you survey at a nation that is largely industrialised, no doubt within the urban areas care for South Africa, there might perhaps be diverse infrastructure. To pressure an economy care for this, you wish functioning organisations in rail, electricity and water etc. Now we comprise had repeated allegations from Eskom now not too long ago about deliberate interior sabotage of infrastructure.
The railways, no doubt, there can be sabotage, the burning of trains within the Western Cape over the last few years, which we haven’t in actuality mentioned. This is prison arson and diverse of educate carriages, at a price of thousands and thousands of rand, comprise been burnt and destroyed within the Western Cape. That is arson/sabotage. The network itself is in such decay that handiest a pair of trains are working. Radiant to revive this network serve to one thing care for what it used to be before, for passenger rail and for freight rail – nevertheless we’re talking Passenger Rail Company for the time being – goes to price many of of thousands and thousands, perhaps billions of rand.
The discipline is security. Forward of you manufacture the relaxation, how manufacture you conclude people stealing the railway lines? It’s change into a create of brigandage. There’s no law and portray when it involves retaining the infrastructure. Reports comprise come thru over time of thieves taking the copper cables, the overhead wires and the signalling wires, digging up stations to procure at cables below the ground.
This happens to Metropolis Vitality in Johannesburg the total time as effectively. There looks to be no strive or no components – no doubt, nothing is working – to conclude these guys. They manufacture it in expansive sunlight hours. There looks to be no arrests, to now not mention convictions.
On Zolani Matthews’ termination as CEO of PRASA
He used to be on suspension and so that they acknowledged [his dual citizenship] used to be the cause. There comprise been some hints at any other verbalize, that he hadn’t achieved what he used to be presupposed to enact. There are a pair of factors here. One: the particular person is on the market in, he has been there six months or so. [From] what we hear, he used to be seeking to place things in hiss to delivery up fixing things. Now he’s been disregarded, it sounds as if, for having now not declared twin citizenship on security grounds. That you can like to take a look at: what is so high secret about passenger rail?
This is an industry the put there’s diverse co-operation all the procedure thru the enviornment. The technology in all fairness standard. Worldwide locations co-operate with every other on what create of trains to bustle, on procurement and things care for that. So it is a extremely new cause. It’s now not care for he’s a total within the defence pressure. What’s the safety discipline? Absolutely, you might perhaps perhaps fetch a type of asserting, “Oh, you must comprise declared that. Well, we’ll forgive you. We’ll will fetch a vogue around it.” As he has made sure, this used to be no doubt now not a secret. He lived in exile within the UK. His father used to be Joe Matthews. He comes from a tall, fight family. He lived in England for a extremely very long time. He had British citizenship. He’s additionally a South African citizen.
There are many those which comprise this place. Whether or now not he wrote it down on a part of paper or now not, to me, looks immaterial. As you jabber, [we have to question] the particular cause for them doing this. They in actuality worked reasonably arduous to procure him in. They understood, the board, that this used to be an appointment that important to be made. They’ve had a dozen CEOs, most of them [in an acting role] over the remaining 10–15 years. All of them comprise failed. A few of them comprise been before the Zondo Fee, and there are questions about ethics etc. This used to be a extremely important appointment to procure, especially given the ache that used to be carried out over the remaining 18 months, in narrate. A extremely important appointment.
That you can deem they would manufacture their homework, procure the merely man and appoint him. Then when he used to be appointed, there comprise been objections because he used to be too feeble; that he didn’t meet the civil service requirements of being below 63 on appointment. They rejected those objections and acknowledged, “No, he’s the merely man for the job. We’ll fetch a vogue. There is a type of appointing any individual who is over age.” I’m sure there is a clause someplace that claims the minister has discretion within the occasion that they want to. They really tried arduous to nominate him, they’ll ought to comprise carried out homework.
He’s handiest been there six months. It’s arduous to imagine, if he has made expansive mistakes, what they are in this type of short time. In this type of field, you use the predominant few months discovering out the put every thing is, who is working what and seeking to procure things going. Then you definately delivery up [asking], “Well, what is it?” Is he uncovering corruption that sure pursuits don’t prefer uncovered? Is he bumping up in opposition to vested pursuits? Is there a political dimension to this? Has he upset people within the manager? Has he upset people among the many partners of the manager? These are the forms of questions we take a look at after we are steered that he’s been disregarded for having twin citizenship.
On what President Ramaphosa ought to be doing
Well, in this case, namely. It’s this very new anomaly when they split passenger rail from freight rail, it used to be a unified organisation and it’s now divided. This has prompted tall structural legacy factors. To illustrate, within the feeble South African Railways – Transnet – within the early years, you had passenger trains and right trains, all using the same network. Some lines [were] devoted to passengers handiest, care for a pair of of the suburban lines – the Mabopane corridor outdoors Pretoria, to illustrate, the expansive link to Soweto – there’s a four-line railway going to Soweto.
These are devoted passenger lines. Nonetheless in many areas, items trains used them as effectively and that worked completely effectively below the feeble Transnet South African railways. For some cause, they felt that these two capabilities ought to be split. The final result’s, you might perhaps perhaps also comprise, over time, PRASA complaining that Transnet won’t give them locomotives. Passenger trains no longer like precedence. Within the feeble days, they continually enjoyed precedence. They were scheduled and that had the manufacture of imposing discipline on the total network.
Trains needed to bustle on time in very scheduled spots. If one educate went infamous or broke down, then it would disrupt the total network. Now, passenger trains comprise misplaced that precedence on the joint lines. Transnet Freight Rail doesn’t care about passengers, and why can also peaceable it? That is now not its transient. There is a historical past, for people who battle thru it, corruption takes the headlines, nevertheless there’s a historical past of interior strife between the two railway managers. They bicker about locomotives, they bicker about who goes to repair what. There’s land which PRASA owns, which Transnet used to comprise, and there’s land that ought to be transferred that hasn’t been transferred. There are many accounting factors to fabricate with the split between these two organisations that came about 20 years ago.
The accountants and the managers fight about who owes what to whom, who is to blame for what, which trains bustle the put and who has precedence. This is all leaving out the theft, corruption and inefficiencies in other methods. [Governance is fundamental and] in this case, it is a crucially important discipline, because PRASA reports to the Minister of Transport and Transnet reports to the Minister of Public Enterprises. Essentially the most nice looking components to procure these two organisations together, it would appear – because they comprise got now not in actuality bought together yet – is to abolish that distinction and procure Transnet to document to the Minister of Transport. Structurally, I’m now not talking about personalities. We’re talking about structure here. Now you’ve bought two ministers working diversified organisations.
Their managers presumably comprise diversified incentives, diversified methods of doing things which leaves it up to right one man within the nation to form this out and that is the president, because he’s essentially the most nice looking one who might perhaps jabber and procure thru a decision to narrate: “Let’s combine these two portfolios, let’s breeze Transnet to PRASA or join them and procure them document to the Minister of Transport,” who in actuality is the person who ought to be to blame for Transnet.
I deem it’s now not easy ample working a industry with out such structural impediments. You’ve bought double constructions that don’t continually search the advice of with every other, are in most cases adversarial in opposition to every other and within the circumstance of peril, corruption and theft – in protection pressure terms – it would be care for having two allies combating every other in hiss of combating the enemy. The enemy in this case is corruption, inefficiency, raze dereliction and peril of a rail network.
[There] looks to be no urgency, no sure thinking, no standard-sense. There’s no scarcity of PowerPoint presentations and meetings, you might perhaps perhaps make it likely for of that. Nonetheless whether that is work that’s going to form a resolution is below no circumstances sure. I deem it’s a presidential accountability. It’s a easy verbalize to make a choice and never so easy to fabricate, nevertheless easy to make a choice. Nonetheless there’ll not be the sort of thing as a proof that any individual’s realised that that is a challenge.
Read more:
- The Day after day Insider: PRASA board fires suspended CEO Kgosie Matthews
- MAILBOX: PRASA paralised, Transnet in a trance, affords some hope
- “We’re now at the point the put most of SA’s railway network is inclined to be written off” – David Williams on PRASA
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