Prasa CEO Zolani Matthews put on suspension less than a year of appointment

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In just less than a year after being appointed CEO at Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), Zolani Matthews has now been placed on cautionary suspension.

The announcement was made by the agency through a statement earlier this week having reached a consensus board decision.

“By consensus, the Board resolved that Mr. Zolani Kgosietsile Matthews should be placed on precautionary suspension to allow detailed probing of the matter at hand to be concluded in his absence,” said Prasa spokesperson Andiswa Makanda in a brief statement on Friday, 19 November 2021.

Prasa later on said that the reason for Matthews’ was because of the information they received from State Security of his failure to disclose to Prasa that he holds British citizenship.

“The reason to place him on precautionary suspension is to ensure that further investigation is conducted without any interference. It is prudent for Mr Matthews not to attend to his duties whilst the investigation is underway. The board would like to emphasise that Mr. Matthews remains an employee of PRASA pending the outcome of the investigation and the decision of the BoC. The BoC would like to be given space to deal with this matter without further issuance of further statements to the media”

To ensure that operations at the agency continues, they have appointed David Mphelo as its acting Group CEO with immediate effect.