The embattled Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) is again in crisis following the derailment of one of its controversial Afro4000 locomotives and an apparent coup from within its ranks.
©Apichart Surachartmathin via
123RFThe locomotive, costing an estimated R40-million, was pulling 12 passenger carriages from Cape Town to Johannesburg when it derailed at Modderrivier in the Northern Cape on Tuesday night. Sixty-four people were treated for minor injuries and shock. Prasa blamed poor communication and incomplete construction.
Prasa's own engineers first raised concerns that the Spanish locomotives were dangerously close to the height of the poorly maintained power lines, but the agency placed a R3.5 billion order for 70, 13 of which have already arrived.
Employees in state of fear
There are fears among employees of an imminent purge at Prasa, with claims of a hostile working environment since the axing of group chief executive Lucky Montana last month.
Yesterday, about 50 staff, including managers, picketed Prasa House in Pretoria, demanding President Jacob Zuma's intervention. A tussle broke out when guards were ordered to drag employees out of the boardroom where they were meeting. Senior staff claimed they were manhandled and their suits torn.
Anele Mda, Prasa's head of group stakeholder and parliamentary relations, said disengaged employees had been paralysed by fear. "We are experiencing silent victimisation of employees with targeted employees being subjected to heavy-handed treatment."
A public relations company had been hired despite Prasa having a communications unit. "The mandate of the agency has not been communicated to staff and this agency is not known by anyone in the business. These are the people who have come to take over the jobs of employees" she said.
Prasa chief strategist Sipho Sithole did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: The Times
