Pretoria - The African National Congress on Tuesday welcomed Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula's decision of placing the troubled Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) under a year-long administration.
"The 54th national conference of the ANC resolved that stabilising the governance and finances of State-Owned Companies (SOC) and ensuring that SOCs play a developmental role is an urgent task and a necessary step in re-igniting growth of the economy," said ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe.
"We further welcome and support his decision to dissolve Prasa's interim board with immediate effect. We share his view that the rail agency has deep-seated challenges that cannot be resolved by merely replacing the interim board with a permanent one. What was needed was a complete overhaul of the agency at management level."
Mabe said the governing party commends Mbalula "for his proactive and decisive" intervention.
"The ANC is confident that this far-reaching decision will provide a permanent solution to the persistent deeply-entrenched challenges that continue to cripple Prasa’s capacity to discharge its mandate effectively over the years," said Mabe.
"The ANC is confident that the newly-appointed administrator, Bongisizwe Mpondo, will help to turn the rail agency around and ensure that millions of commuters who rely on Prasa on a daily basis receive reliable, safe and quality service. We urge him to hit the ground running."
He said the ANC was confident that Mbalula's intervention would help to promote a culture of good governance, accountability and improved audit outcomes at Prasa.
"Most importantly, it will enable Prasa to execute its mandate diligently."
On Monday, Mbalula wielded the axe at Prasa, firing acting chief executive Nkosinathi Sishi with immediate effect to dissolve the troubled parastatal’s interim board and place the entity under administration for 12 months.
Mbalula said the government had conducted a review of the performance of the board and of the entity as a whole over the past few weeks.