The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to take strong prosecutorial action against six former PRASA executives implicated in R2.8 billion worth of irregular contracts between 2010 and 2019. This is a matter deserving serious consequences, and the NPA must act decisively to ensure accountability for the large-scale looting that crippled PRASA.
An SIU report fingers these executives for awarding contracts without proper procurement processes. The report was finalised in December 2023 and referred to the NPA.
Among the irregular contracts are security deals worth R1.6 billion, most of which were awarded without competitive procurement. This includes Royal Security, owned by Roy Moodley who “employed” Jacob Zuma from 2007 to 2009 which received R579 million from PRASA despite a previous contract being cancelled in 2009 for poor performance.
This massive spending on security coincided with worsening vandalism and cable theft on the PRASA network, leaving little doubt there was minimal value for money.
The initial 12-month contracts were repeatedly extended under the watch of former PRASA CEO Lucky Montana, who served until 2015.
The remaining R1.2 billion concerns other contractors handpicked without tender processes by PRASA officials to provide a range of services.
Under the watch of the implicated executives, PRASA’s annual passenger numbers plummeted from over 500 million to less than a quarter of that.