Prasa board suspends former acting group CEO David Mphelo

The Passenger Railway Agency of South Africa (Prasa) Board has placed the group’s former acting chief executive officer, David Mphelo, on suspension.

In a short statement, Prasa said the board had on Wednesday received a damning report containing serious allegations against Mphelo.

“The allegations against Mr Mphelo involve irregularities in recruitment and procurement amongst others,” reads the statement.

“Given the gravity and seriousness of the allegations, the board resolved that it is in the best interest of Prasa that Mr Mphelo be placed on suspension with immediate effect pending investigations.”

The board did not mention the origin of the report, and stated it would not communicate any further on the matter until the due process has been completed.

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Who is David Mphelo?

According to his LinkedIn profile Mphelo is an “experienced business executive and leader with a demonstrated history in the ICT and digital solutions space”.

Mphelo is skilled in ICT strategy, solutions, software, ICT value proposition and business development.

He was also part of the senior executive programme focused on strategy formulation and implementation (HR, IT and Finance) from Harvard Business School.

Bloomberg reports that Mphelo joined Prasa as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in 2020, before being appointed acting CEO.

Mphelo replaced former Prasa CEO Zolani Matthews, who was denied high-level state security clearance after failing to disclose his UK citizenship.

Mphelo said at the time of his appointment that Prasa needed a cleanup and that the state-owned enterprise was “emerging from a dark era”.

Prasa over the years has been plagued by a list of never-ending problems. Civil rights oversight body Corruption Watch has over the years cited a number of problems at the troubled provider of passenger railway services.

These include instability in key positions, poor financial management and discipline, inadequate oversight, no consequence management, and inadequate governance records.

NOW READ: David Mphelo appointed acting Prasa CEO after Matthews’ suspension