With PRASA planning to cut jobs, UNTU wants agency to come clean on Gibela Consortium deal
This comes after the parastatal told Parliament’s standing committee on Tuesday that it plans to lay off 2,500 employees due to budget constraints.
Picture: @Dotransport/X
CAPE TOWN – The United National Transport Union (UNTU) said since the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) approved a R51 billion tender deal with Gibela Consortium to supply 600 new trains, employees have been at risk of losing their jobs.
This comes after the parastatal told Parliament’s standing committee on Tuesday that it planned to lay off 2,500 employees due to budget constraints.
Meanwhile, Gibela Consortium said it’s confident that the 600 new trains would be delivered by the 2029 deadline. More than 200 new trains have already been delivered.
UNTU said there was an expectation that the R51 billion tender deal would create employment and upskill PRASA’s workforce with maintenance and manufacturing of trains.
According to the transport union, PRASA employees had not benefited from the initiative and added that Gibela Consortium has been importing labour.
UNTU spokesperson, Athenskosi Plaatjie, said that PRASA needed to come clean about its deal with the consortium.
"UNTU plans to rope in our federation, FEDUSA [Federation of Unions of South Africa], to strengthen the fight against the sacrificing of employees for the betterment of the private sector."
Eyewitness News has reached out to PRASA for a comment and is still waiting for a response.