The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has welcomed the dismissal of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) Group CEO Zolani Matthews.
Prasa fired Mathews with immediate effect.
The rail agency says Mathews intentionally failed to disclose his dual citizenship. He was placed on suspension last month pending an investigation.
Mathews was appointed in February this year.
Numsa Spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says Matthews was not the right person for this job.
“He treated employees with total disdain, and he did not make any effort to address the crisis of rampant mismanagement at Autopax. He had no plans to turn Autopax around, and he refused to assist in devising a mechanism to ensure that workers at Autopax were paid their outstanding salaries. Employees at Autopax are often subjected to delays in their salary payments because Autopax is being mismanaged. There were delays in the payment of salaries for October and September,” adds Hlubi-Majola.
Precautionary suspension
Matthews was placed on precautionary suspension recently pending an investigation into the matter which allegedly includes his holding of dual citizenship including that of the United Kingdom.
Prasa Board Chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane said after a Board meeting in November that they considered an “alleged sensitive matter of security breach and other contractual obligations” associated with the employment contract of Matthews.
Director of Accountability Now, Advocate Paul Hoffman, slammed the decision to place Matthews on suspension, saying his determination to fight corruption has made many people in senior positions at the state-owned enterprise extremely uncomfortable.
Advocate Hoffman says the reasons for the precautionary suspension of Matthews are completely flimsy.
Political Analyst and Wits School of Governance lecturer Sandile Swana shares his perspective on Matthews’ precautionary suspension:
-Additional reporting by SABC News
