Media Statement SATAWU: On 27 March 2026, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) met with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) at Umjantshi House, as part of the ongoing 189A consultation process. The two parties have been in talks as the entity is considering/planning to retrench workers. The reality is that over five hundred (500) employees are likely to be affected if PRASA proceeds with this decision. We are opposing and rejecting the retrenchment of 520 employees at PRASA. Implementation of section 189 should be the last resort.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) has proposed several methods to avoid section 189A, including redeployment of workers to other divisions within the state-owned entity, such as rail corridor programmes, infrastructure and maintenance projects, and support for Metrorail operations. The union wants to emphasise that it is the employees at Long Distance Passenger Transport (LDPT), formerly known as MLPS, that will be most affected. PRASA management claims to be under financial strain and struggling to meet financial obligations. We are of the view that the management is not being transparent or honest enough with us about the entity’s finances. In fact, the management is deliberately misleading us and the public so they can proceed with the retrenchment plan.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) management says the entity cannot continue to pay its employees within this division because it does not generate profit. That is not the employees’ fault, so why is the management not opening the operations? This shows that they are the ones contributing to the collapse of the entity.
We vow to do everything legally to ensure that we protect our members’ jobs. We can see that PRASA is forging ahead with section 189. We will challenge them in the courts of law, and if they want us to take to the streets, we will do exactly that. It is not the employees’ fault that the long-distance trains are not efficient; drivers are available, it is the management that is failing to provide direction.
Millions of South Africans are unemployed; we have been fighting against inequality and poverty, yet we have a state-owned entity that is retrenching workers. We are also disappointed with the management for proposing a wage cut while management earns millions of rand. Furthermore, these are the consequences of the alleged corruption, incompetence and maladministration that we have been vocal about at PRASA. Retrenching workers in this economy, where everything is expensive, is akin to destroying livelihoods.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) wishes to remind its members and workers that the section 189A consultation process has been ongoing, and today there was consensus between the two parties to have a cool-off period and to extend the facilitation process, during which we will be pushing for the placement of our members. We are hopeful that when we meet again, management will present a meaningful plan to save jobs; at this moment, they have no plan at all.
