According to the Daily Maverick, the situation at Prasa affects thousands of jobs and other businesses indirectly contracted to Prasa.

A spokesperson for Untu said criminals are “attacking stations and infrastructure of Prasa nationwide after the contracts of twenty private security companies were terminated”.

Jobs on the line

More than 3 000 security guards faced unemployment when Prasa cancelled security contracts, and the situation appears grim for maintenance and repair contractors as well.

Needless to say, Untu is worried about the safety, future and job security of its members, with spokesperson Sonja Carstens telling EWN on Friday:

“Obviously, they said the private security companies were terminated because they were appointed irregularly – we have no problem but we do believe that Prasa should have had alternative thereof before terminating the existing contracts or the police be deployed.”

If Prasa continues on this path, it could not only cripple the company, but South Africa’s economy as well. The rippling effect is already felt in the sector, as Daily Maverick uncovered.

Several firms have already reduced their workforce “due to a lack of work from Prasa,” Sikonathi Mantshantsha wrote after obtaining proof of this.

Earlier this month, Wictra – a company contracted to do maintenance work to Metrorail trains – said it would need to dismiss more than 2 000 employees if Prasa doesn’t stay on track.

The company issued a statement after it was forced to pay only half of is salaries, as it had been doing since June. Wictra will deplete its funds by the end of November.

“Our financial resources have now almost been depleted and we are faced with total closure of our operations in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, East London and Durban. Unable to maintain substantial rental fees, we will be forced to give notice to our landlords and vacate our leased properties by the end of November 2019. If this situation is not reversed by Prasa we will have no other choice than to permanently lay off all our staff.” Wictra chief executive Wicus Pretorius.

Corruption at Prasa

Prasa has been on a downhill slope for years. It all began when the Public Protector’s investigation revealed that Prasa has spent hundreds of millions of Rands on “dodgy security contracts.”

At the time, Ground Up was working with Daily Maverick to make the reports public. It was found that the annual expenditure on security alone “may be in excess of R300m”.

In addition, there were 6 379 security-related incidents in 2016/17 across South Africa’s rail network, as well as 16 fatalities and 525 injuries. Security-related incidents were “criminal in nature”, such as threats to personal safety.

Then in August 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa tasked the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to uncover corruption, and attempt to recover lost funds.

Ramaphosa said at the time that he deemed the investigation necessary, adding that “civil proceedings emanating from such investigation should be adjudicated upon”.

Also read – Prasa allegedly terminates security companies’ contracts without notice