Prasa mess another example of government’s lack of accountability
The transport minister's belated decision to axe the Prasa board after the parastatal was revealed to be in shambles is one fine example.
Prasa has began testing of its new Brazilian made trains, which have six coaches with a capacity to carry up to 1344. PIC. Supplied
It is becoming increasingly clear as one governmental leadership blunder inexorably follows another that the ANC have become adept at the game of the blame.
The predictable response to any faux pas is an automatic “I didn’t do it”, “I didn’t know about it”, or an accusatory finger pointing elsewhere. It begs the serious question, does anyone mandated to run a government department or tasked with running a state-owned entity take any interest in either the job they have been given, or truly care about the outcome?
The list is too long to recount case by case, but another badly laid brick in the wall of shame is an attempt to hijack the wage bill at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) by acting CEO Collins Letsoalo, which led to his contract being terminated – although there has been no hint of sanctions for his attempt to secure himself a 350% wage hike.
The response of Dipuo Peters, the minister whose duty was to oversee the rail agency under the deeply flawed cadre deployment of Letsoalo, was to issue a statement to voice the concerns of a two-day parliamentary portfolio committee on the “shambles at Prasa” and to belatedly axe the board.
That, we would suggest, is much akin to changing the signals on the main line long after the train had left the station; in short, a train wreck waiting to happen.
Action after the fact is a prime exercise of the art of 20/20 hindsight and points to a singular lack of planning and a veritable empty cupboard to limit the disastrous contingencies which can arise in any complex undertaking.
Sadly, the public, who provide the tax base which funds the sleight of hand masquerading as governance, find increasingly that the failures in leadership are inescapable and inevitable.
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