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The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) said in a document sent to employees it is embarking on a retrenchment process as it faces severe financial and operational constraints in its long-distance passenger rail operations. It said certain rail corridors have remained inactive for extended periods, leaving employees unable to perform productive work while continuing to receive full remuneration. “After exhausting all reasonable alternatives, retrenchment was adopted as a last resort,” Prasa stated. Business Day understands Shosholoza Meyl has not been operating at full capacity as a result. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana said in his budget speech in February that the R5.8bn allocated to Prasa was part of the government’s efforts to modernise the rail operator’s fleet and improve commuter rail services. The programme is intended to boost annual passenger trips from the current 77-million to between 250-million and 450-million over the medium term.He added the special appropriation includes R1.8bn earmarked for Prasa to help the agency meet its contractual obligations under its agreement with Gibela, which requires the procurement of a minimum of 35 locomotives annually.The retrenchment process has pitted Prasa management against organised labour that opposes retrenchments. This has resulted in the establishment of a dedicated task team aimed at finding alternatives to a retrenchment process affecting more than 600 workers. The task team, including Prasa and labour representatives, is expected to deliver a progress report to transport minister Barbara Creecy soon. The United National Transport Union (Untu), the largest union at Prasa, provisionally withdrew its application to halt the retrenchment process from the labour court roll to give the task team a chance. “The task team is continuing with its work, and a report on the progress made will be sent to the transport minister,” Untu spokesperson Atenkosi Plaatjie said recently. Untu’s decision to withdraw the court application last week followed the rail operator informing the union that the retrenchment process had been extended to June 30 to allow continued engagement between management and organised labour. “Untu assures members that while the urgent interdict has been provisionally removed from the roll, the application can be reinstated should Prasa proceed with the retrenchment process or fail to engage in good faith.” Plaatjie has said Untu remained disappointed by Prasa’s handling of the matter, as the “uncertainty, emotional distress, anxiety and overall harm experienced by hundreds of workers and their families could have been avoided had management engaged labour meaningfully and constructively during the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration consultation process”. Labour met the Prasa Group CEO, Hishaam Emeran, recently to find a solution to the looming job cuts. Prasa spokesperson Andiswa Makanda did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Read: PHILIP MASEKO | Why Acsa thrives while Prasa implodesBusiness Day reported recently that labour had rejected moves by Prasa to have the affected employees sign documents issued regarding the retrenchment process. Prasa, which has a network of more than 2,000km of track, has historically been plagued by ageing infrastructure, vandalism, unreliability and ineffectiveness, fraud, corruption and safety concerns. The entity launched its general overhaul programme in 2022 at a cost of R7.5bn, of which R3.48bn had been spent by end-March 2025. The overhaul was established to refurbish and extend the service life of Prasa’s legacy rolling stock fleet — the older Metrorail coaches and mainline passenger services locomotives that serve millions of commuters in South Africa’s metropolitan regions.
