Activists condemn PRASA appointment
10 February 2020
ZackieAchmat, a leader of commuter activist group #UniteBehind, has called on Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) to “establish the facts” as to why Themba Camane was appointed a member of the Passenger Rail Association of South Africa (PRASA) Technical Advisory Team.
Camane was involved in Siyangena Technologies’ botched tender deal, which is criticised in the Public Protector’s report of 2015.
The Public Protector, who at the time was Thuli Madonsela, wrote that in 2009 PRASA advertised a tender for the installation of high-speed access gates at Doornfontein and Nasrec stations. Siyangena put in a bid of R1.1 billion and got the job. This was despite a bid competitor, Protea Coin, having come in at under R700 million. According to the Public Protector, Siyangena’s contract was then improperly extended to seven other stations, including Cape Town, where the high speed access gates still do not work.
As the following document shows, Camane supported the R70-million extension of the Siyangena contract that the Public Protector found improper: