NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 432
DATE REPLY SUBMITTED: MONDAY, 28 MARCH 2011
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: NO 3 â 2011)
Mr M S F de Freitas (DA) asked the Minister of Transport:
(1) Whether any buses have been stolen since Autopax became a subsidiary
of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa); if not, why was
a comprehensive security survey undertaken on Autopax; if so, what (a)
are the details of these thefts and (b) is the monetary value of the
stolen items;
(2) whether any person was brought to book for these crimes; if not, why
not; if so, (a) who, (b) what action was taken against the person and
(c) what are the further relevant details;
(3) (a) who provided security services to Autopax and (b) what were the
reasons for these thefts, given the presence of security services?
NW461E
REPLY:
The Minister of Transport:
1) Yes, buses have been stolen since Autopax became a subsidiary of the
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).
(a)Two busses have been stolen. The first was stolen from the
Salvokop Depot in January 2010 and the second bus was stolen from the
Sentrarand Depot in July 2010. The details of the theft are a matter
of investigation.
(b) The monetary value of each bus is about R2.8 million.
2) The perpetrator(s) have not yet been identified. Both cases are still
under investigation.
Collusion/organised crime and a combination of lapses in internal
controls were identified as contributory causes for the theft. Two
Autopax managers responsible were suspended and disciplinary
procedures instituted. The contracted security guards at the
Sentrarand Depot were removed and replaced by internal security
members at the access point. Other systems are also being implemented
to improve security at depots.
(a), (b) and (c) Fall away.
3) (a) The security services at the Salvokop Depot were provided by G4S
and at Sentrarand by Futuris Security.
b)
Based on available information in the Salvokop case, the perpetrator
followed existing security measures and falsified his identity to
steal the bus. In the second case, a situation was exploited where
there was a lot of movement of buses in and out of the depot utilising
contract drivers who were not known to the security doing access and
egress control. New security control measures have since been
introduced.