{"id":231409,"date":"2022-07-15T08:08:18","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T06:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/doubts-over-prasas-commitment-to-uphold-high-court-corruption-judgment\/"},"modified":"2022-07-15T08:08:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T06:08:18","slug":"doubts-over-prasas-commitment-to-uphold-high-court-corruption-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/doubts-over-prasas-commitment-to-uphold-high-court-corruption-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubts over PRASA\u2019s commitment to uphold High Court corruption judgment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article_body\">\n<p><a class=\"bigger-image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/images\/photographers\/Kim%20Reynolds\/Prasagate.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/doubts-over-prasas-commitment-to-uphold-high-court-corruption-judgment.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Access gates installed by Siyangena at Cape Town Station never worked. Archive photo: Kim Reynolds<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Commuter activist organisation #UniteBehind is joining the SCA appeal between PRASA and Siyangena Technology after doubts were raised about PRASA\u2019s commitment to the matter.<\/li>\n<li>Leaked minutes indicated that PRASA was quietly seeking a R3.1-billion settlement with Siyangena, despite a High Court ruling setting aside the contract between the rail agency and the company.<\/li>\n<li>A legal opinion sought by PRASA warned that they should not settle the matter with Siyangena.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Commuter rail activist organisation #UniteBehind is to join the matter between the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and Siyangena in the Supreme Court of Appeal as amicus curiae. #UniteBehind has raised concerns about settlement negotiations between PRASA and Siyangena, initiated after the High Court found them to be in a corrupt relationship.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt class=\"leave\" height=\"1\" id=\"gu_counter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/doubts-over-prasas-commitment-to-uphold-high-court-corruption-judgment.gif\" width=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>Siyangena is appealing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/high-court-sets-aside-dodgy-siyangena-contracts\/\">October 2020 judgment<\/a> in which a full bench of the Pretoria High Court set aside the contracts between PRASA and Siyangena, finding the company was \u201ccomplicit to the corruption, impropriety and maladministration\u201d that surrounded the contracts for security and access management technology.<\/p>\n<p>According to Zackie Achmat, deponent to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/documents\/founding_affidavit_-_unitebehind_application_to_intervene_sca_23062022.pdf\">#UniteBehind\u2019s founding affidavit<\/a> in its application to intervene as amicus curiae, the commuter activist organisation sought to join the appeal \u201cafter having sight of the parties\u2019 heads of argument\u201d, and after news reports raised concerns that PRASA \u201cwas not organising to defend the case adequately\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the High Court judgment, an independent engineer was to be appointed to evaluate the cost of the work done by Siyangena. This evaluation was to then be compared to the money already paid to the company, and if the cost of the goods was greater than the amounts paid to Siyangena, PRASA has to compensate Siyangena for the difference. If it was less, then Siyangena must pay back PRASA.<\/p>\n<p>But an independent evaluation has not started.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequently, Siyangena filed papers to appeal the judgment in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).<\/p>\n<p>In February this year, GroundUp <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/prasa-dropped-lawyers-billion-rand-corruption-deal-appeal-looms\/\">reported<\/a> that Werksmans, PRASA\u2019s lawyers in the High Court victory against Siyangena, had dropped the rail agency after it had failed to pay them.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, PRASA has quietly been negotiating a possible settlement agreement with Siyangena to the tune of R3.1-billion, first revealed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/industrial\/amabhungane-prasa-the-cr17-spy-the-security-cabal-and-the-dodgy-tenders-20220408\">an amaBhungane investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On 31 August 2021, PRASA received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/documents\/mathipa_opinion-1.pdf\">a legal opinion<\/a> from advocate Kgomosoane Mathipa, in response to 14 questions from PRASA\u2019s acting Group Executive for Legal, Risk and Compliance Sifiso Simelane, and PRASA\u2019s chairperson, Leonard Ramatlakane, mostly regarding a possible settlement between the rail agency and Siyangena.<\/p>\n<p>Mathipa argued that a settlement may be considered before the SCA hears the case, but only if it is accepted by the SCA, and if Siyangena accepts the High Court judgment that found it was corrupt.<\/p>\n<p>But Mathipa warned that PRASA should not settle the matter, except to agree that Siyangena withdraws its appeal in the SCA.<\/p>\n<p>Ramatlakane also asked Mathipa if former PRASA CEO Lucky Montana\u2019s testimony at the Zondo commission about how he had acquired a large property portfolio using the same lawyers as Siyangena could hurt PRASA\u2019s chances in the SCA appeal.<\/p>\n<p>The High Court had found that \u201cthe evidence is irresistible that [Siyangena] was providing the backing [for the purchase of homes for Montana]\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The High Court\u2019s conclusion was supported, not defeated, in the Zondo commission\u2019s report into PRASA.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Mathipa\u2019s cautioning, in November 2021 PRASA\u2019s board and then-CEO Kgosie Matthews met with Siyangena\u2019s bosses, including Mario Ferreira. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/documents\/draft_minutes.pdf\">According to the minutes<\/a> of that meeting, a resolution was adopted that \u201ca joint team of PRASA and Siyangena Technology should prepare a draft agreement that would be made an order of court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This agreement would consist of a R2.6-billion payout to Siyangena \u201cto close the last chapter\u201d and R500-million \u201cas part of the court order\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On 30 May, #UniteBehind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/documents\/letter_to_prasa_and_siyangena_30052022.pdf\">wrote<\/a> to the attorneys for PRASA and Siyangena to raise their concerns about the negotiations between the rail agency and the corrupt contractor, calling it \u201cunlawful conduct\u201d, and that any settlement would be \u201cunconstitutional and against public policy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On 29 June, PRASA\u2019s new attorneys in the matter, Ngeno &amp; Mteto, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/documents\/letter_to_webber_wentzel_29_june_2022.pdf\">replied<\/a> to #UniteBehind\u2019s letter, saying that there was no settlement agreement concluded between PRASA and Siyangena. The letter also threatened to report #UniteBehind\u2019s attorneys, Webber Wentzel, to the Legal Practice Council for a \u201cconflict of interest\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Raising the issue of conflict of interest is \u201cbaffling\u201d since #UniteBehind is not \u201cagainst\u201d PRASA in the proceedings, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/documents\/letter_to_prasa_01072022.pdf\">#UniteBehind replied<\/a> on 1 July. It pointed out that Webber Wentzel has been involved in the proceedings between Siyangena and PRASA as amicus curiae since inception in 2018 with PRASA\u2019s \u201cfull knowledge (and acquiescence)\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>PRASA indicated that it would not oppose #UniteBehind\u2019s application to join as amicus curiae. Siyangena initially said that it would oppose #UniteBehind\u2019s application to join the SCA matter, but on 8 July, it changed tack and indicated that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/uploads\/documents\/letter_from_siyangena_08072022.pdf\">it would not oppose its joining<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The matter will be heard on 26 August. PRASA spokesperson Andiswa Makanda said, \u201cWe have no comment at this stage pending the court process.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"article_copyright\">\n<p>\u00a9 2022 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\" rel=\"license\">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and GroundUp, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.<\/p>\n<p>We put an invisible pixel in the article so that we can count traffic to republishers. All analytics tools are solely on our servers. We do not give our logs to any third party. Logs are deleted after two weeks. We do not use any IP address identifying information except to count regional traffic. We are solely interested in counting hits, <b>not tracking<\/b> users. If you republish, please do not delete the invisible pixel.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/media\/_versions\/images\/photographers\/Kim%20Reynolds\/Prasagate_extra_large.jpg%20\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/\">Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Access gates installed by Siyangena at Cape Town Station never worked. Archive photo: Kim Reynolds Commuter activist organisation #UniteBehind is joining the SCA appeal between PRASA and Siyangena Technology after doubts were raised about PRASA\u2019s commitment to the matter. Leaked minutes indicated that PRASA was quietly seeking a R3.1-billion settlement with Siyangena, despite a High [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-231409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/doubts-over-prasas-commitment-to-uphold-high-court-corruption-judgment.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}