Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) boss Zolani Matthews was suspended this week by the board for holding dual citizenship, which it says is a security threat, just weeks after it tried to terminate his contract for alleged non-performance.
The board, chaired by Leonard Ramatlakane, announced that Matthews had been placed on precautionary suspension, saying there was an “alleged sensitive matter of security breach and other contractual obligations”.
The Sunday Times has established from Prasa sources that Matthews has been suspended for allegedly not declaring that he holds dual citizenship. Matthews is the son of the late struggle stalwart Joe Matthews, who lived in exile in England, which is when the dual citizenship was obtained.
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Matthews is the younger brother of international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor. He was chair of the Ports Regulator and has also served as a board member at the Post Office.
“This security breach they are talking about is the claim that on his job application form, where he was asked about his nationality, he wrote RSA instead of dual citizenship,” said one insider.
“The truth is that when he was interviewed by state security during the vetting process he did declare that he holds dual citizenship and is willing to relinquish his British passport if he becomes permanent in the position [Prasa CEO]. But everyone knows that just a few weeks ago they wanted to fire him for non-performance.”
The insiders told the Sunday Times that in early November Matthews had been advised that his services would be terminated by the board, despite a decision in September to extend his probation period by three months until December 8. The board is alleged to have backed off from terminating his contract after Matthews provided it with a performance review proving that he had met his targets.
A source at the department of transport said there were claims that Matthews had failed a security clearance and that transport minister Fikile Mbalula was unhappy with his performance, which was likened to that of the under-fire Eskom CEO André de Ruyter.
“The board is being unleashed to deal with him. There is a definite fallout between the board, Mbalula and Matthews. We knew that he had been given five days to leave early this month, and then it was quiet and we thought maybe they smoked a peace pipe, but it seems they were hatching another plan,” said another insider.
“I don’t particularly agree with the guy, but whether you like him or not it doesn’t make sense to claim that you want to stabilise a place like Prasa but then just suspend its CEO eight months into the job. It is absolutely ridiculous.”
Insiders say CFO Lesibana Fosu is also in the firing line, amid claims that she is impeding the rail agency’s operations. The Sunday Times has seen briefs to the minister and the board saying that she is failing to settle invoices on time for services rendered.
“Prasa is being hampered by a group CFO who thinks the business belongs to her. The general business practice by any accountant should be precise as it is a crucial part of Prasa’s recovery,” reads one of the briefs.
Ramatlakane did not respond to questions from the Sunday Times.
Just a few days ago Matthews told the Sunday Times that the organisation was in a critical state and that its infrastructure was not ready for a modern rail network despite billions of rands spent on modernisation since 2009. He said in the interview that Prasa's problems are self-inflicted and that he had established a task team, led by Fosu, to work with the auditor-general to turn the situation around.
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