NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 1883
DATE REPLY SUBMITTED: TUESDAY, 08 DECEMBER 2009
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: FRIDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 24 â 2009)
Mr M S F de Freitas (DA) asked the Minister of Transport:
(1) Whether any contracts have been awarded to any current or former (a)
employees or (b) their spouses and/or (c) families of the Passenger
Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) or any of its affiliates or
subsidiaries in the past three years; if not, what is the position in
this regard; if so, what are the relevant details in each case;
(2) (a) what process was followed in awarding each contract, (b) when was
each contract awarded and (c) what are the amounts involved for each
contract;
(3) whether Prasaâs policies allow for (a) employees, (b) their spouses
and (c) families to be awarded contracts; if not, what is the position
in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
NW2445E
REPLY:
The Minister of Transport:
1) (a), (b) and (c)
Following the train burnings in Tshwane on the 18th January 2008, the
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) appointed Carundell Rail
to conduct an audit of Contingency Plans in all the Regions of
Metrorail and to develop a Business Continuity Management Strategy for
PRASA. Carundell Rail was appointed following discussions between
PRASA and the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR).
Carundell Rail, which is owned by Dr Friedel Mulke, sub-contracted two
other companies to assist them with the assignment and these companies
are:-
⢠DocD Engineering Services (Owner: Dr Chris Dutton); and
⢠Lekga Investment Holdings (Owner: Mr Eddie Lekota, a former
employee of the then South African Rail Commuter Corporation
Limited (SARCC)).
The cost of the project was R6 942 755. The mandate given to the
consultant Carundell Rail was as follows:-
To conduct an audit to determine the compliance, effectiveness,
adequacy and relevance of the Contingency Plans within the business
environment, i.e.:-
⢠ Identification of shortcomings.
⢠Correlating proposed mitigating actions initiated by the Head Office,
the Regions and the Audit Team as determined from separate risk
assessments.
⢠ Recommending corrective actions.
⢠Proposing mitigating plans/models for effective management of the
risk profile.
⢠ Obtaining alignment throughout PRASA with respect to business
recovery.
2) (a)
The appointment was in accordance with PRASAâs Supply Chain Management
Policy.
(b) and (c)
See the reply to (1) above.
3) (a), (b) and (c)
PRASAâs Supply Chain Management Policy requires that in a case where
an employee and an employeeâs spouse or family have an interest in a
contract, the employee must disclose this to the Company and the Group
Chief Executive Officer. It is required from the employee to withdraw
from participating in any manner whatsoever in the process relating to
a contract and its awarding.