Statement by Chris Hunsinger MP – DA Spokesperson on Transport:
The DA will request that the Chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Transport obtain the Webber Wentzel report ahead of the Committee’s upcoming meeting on the multiple corruption scandals surrounding Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). For Parliament to fulfil its oversight role, this report must be made available to the Committee and to the public.
This follows continued attempts by PRASA and the Department of Transport to keep the report hidden from scrutiny, despite the DA submitting a PAIA request to ensure that its findings are brought into the public domain. We submitted our request on 2 June 2025 and followed up in July and received no response.
The matter is made even more serious by reports that officials implicated in corruption allegedly received hundreds of thousands of rands in bribes in exchange for contracts, spending the money on luxury goods while rail commuters across South Africa are left to endure broken infrastructure and unreliable services.
The Webber Wentzel report is expected to reveal the full extent of corruption at PRASA, involving billions of rands in tenders allegedly awarded under irregular circumstances. Despite receiving billions of rands in public funding, PRASA continues to resist meaningful transparency and accountability.
There is no justification for a report with such potentially damning findings to remain secret for nearly a year while the entity that commissioned it fails to act on its recommendations.
Parliament, through its committees, has the constitutional authority to compel the production of documents and testimony as part of its oversight function, and the DA will use these mechanisms to ensure full accountability.
We expect answers from the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, and from PRASA.
Sloth
Fun South African Fact: South Africa’s natural and human fossil history dates back hundreds of thousands, even millions, of years. Early dinosaur fossils have been discovered in the Western Cape and up to 80% of mammalian fossils found so far have been discovered in the Karoo.
Ice
An retired elderly couple visit London..
They get picked up from the airport in a london black cab and head off into the city for some adventure.
The cab driver say \”where you from guvnor?
Husband. \”we\’re from South Africa\”..
The wife is a little hard of hearing asks her husband.
\”What did he say?\”
The husband turns to his wife and says louder \”the cab driver asked us where we were from, I told him South Africa!\”
The cabbie continues \”I was in the merchant navy years back… I got to drop anchor down your way, a few times in Johannesburg\”
The husband replies \”oh wow that\’s where we\’re from originally, now we\’re in Cape Town.\”
The wife asks the husband again \”what did he say?\”.
The husband again relays the unheard conversation \”the cab driver says he spent some time in the navy and went down to joberg\”.
The wife smiles and nods.