Cape Town – The Passenger Rail Agency of South
Africa (Prasa) has welcomed a High
Court decision ordering a former
employee to pay back R5.7 million
in damages after he lied about his
qualifications.
According to court papers, Mshushisi Mthimkhulu called himself a doctor and said he had a national diploma and a bachelors degree from the Vaal University of Technology.
In 2010, he landed himself the position of executive manager for engineering services at Prasa.
A few months later Mthimkhulu falsely represented that he had been awarded a doctorate by the Technische Universitat Munchen and that he had received a job offer for a position as an engineering services specialist at a salary of R2.8million a year.
As a consequence Prasa made Mthimkhulu a counter offer in September 2010 at a salary of R2.8million.
In reality, he only had a matric certificate.
Prasa spokesperson Nana Zenani said a lengthy battle followed “over a series of blatant lies to the agency”.
“This comes on the heels of the infamous Swifambo contract, which Mthimkhulu played a central role in.
The Gauteng High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal found that this contract was impugned by tender rigging enabled by Mthimkhulu.
“These judgments cleared the way for Prasa to recover more than R2.6 billion of taxpayer monies already paid on the contract,” said Zenani.
Prasa decided to institute an inquiry into Mthimkhulu’s qualifications after Prasa held a press conference relating to a media report about the purchasing of locomotives from Europe at a price of R600 million.
It was alleged that the locomotives, the Afro 4000, were unsuitable for use on South Africa rail tracks.
Inquiries were made at Vaal Technikon, where Mthimkhulu said he graduated from.
Prasa was informed that although Mthimkhulu had been registered for a national Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at the technikon, he never completed the course.
Prasa board chairperson Khanyisile Kweyama said: “Prasa welcomes the verdict by the Gauteng High Court to award restitution of the monies paid to Mthimkhulu as a result of a series of systematic lies and machinations on the part of Mthimkhulu.
“The board’s efforts to stabilise Prasa have been an arduous task. It has resulted in the uncovering of various illegal activities that otherwise destabilised the organisation, choking all efforts to carry out its mandate to deliver passenger rail services.
"The Swifambo contract, for instance, has had a negative effect on our long distance Shosholoza Meyl as it left the business without the much-needed locomotives.
“Prasa staff and commuters deserve an organisation that is free of corruption and is vigilant against any individuals or companies that intend on undertaking corrupt activities,” said Kweyama.