The United National Transport Union (UNTU) has condemned PRASA’s plan to retrench more than 500 employees in the Main Line Passenger Services division under a Section 189A restructuring process. The union describes the move as the result of years of corruption, mismanagement, and political interference, stating that the collapse of MLPS was both foreseeable and preventable.
UNTU argues that PRASA has chosen to target workers rather than address root causes such as oversight failures and entrenched corruption. The union highlights findings from SIU reports covering 2010 to 2019, which detail irregular tenders worth R2.8 billion, uncompleted work, and depot modernisation funds that never materialised. It also notes the R3.5 billion Swifambo Vossloh locomotive scandal, involving trains too tall for South Africa’s rail network, as a contributing factor that deepened the crisis.
According to UNTU, more than 500 employees now face losing their livelihoods, yet no prosecutions have followed despite the SIU’s findings. The union says workers and citizens are again bearing the consequences, with the collapse of rail services increasing travel costs for South Africans.
UNTU reiterates its call for a people optimisation process instead of mass retrenchments and urges the Minister of Transport to intervene to safeguard jobs, stating that employees cannot continue to pay for the actions of those responsible for looting the entity.
