Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has appointed an interim board to stabilise the ailing Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and guide the parastatal until a new, permanent board is selected.

Peters last week dissolved the entire PRASA board on the back of “declining performance, lack of good governance, lack of financial prudence and in-fighting deteriorating public confidence”, and had recalled her seconded acting group CEO Collins Letsoalo back to his post as Department of Transport (DoT) CFO “for the good of the company”.

While former PRASA chairperson Popo Molefe is taking legal action to have the Minister’s decision to dissolve the board set aside, Peters has appointed former South African National Roads Agency CEO Nazir Ali to serve as PRASA’s interim chairperson, effective March 13.

The other interim board members are Ronny Mkhwanazi, Tiyani Rikhotso; former National Union of Mineworker’s secretary general Frans Baleni, Natalie Skeepers, Constance Mahelo, Xolile George and a representative from the National Treasury.

Peters told media at a briefing at PRASA’s headquarters, in Pretoria, on Monday that the interim board would be tasked with steering the State-owned entity back on track while the selection of a new, permanent board is decided on.

The DoT had already closed applications for prospective new board members and had started the selection processes in anticipation of the July term-of-contract expiry of the now-fired board of directors.

Each of the interim board members has been selected for specific skills and expertise, including technical, compliance, risk, legal, finance, labour, corporate governance and human resource and communications.

Meanwhile, Peters said the decision to second Letsoalo as acting PRASA CEO had been intended to ensure that “we attend and correct all other issues that drew negative publicity and brought about a sense of insecurity and low staff morale at PRASA.”

“It is unfortunate that, despite my laudable and persistent plea to both the [now former] boards and the [now former] acting group CEO not to further exacerbate the instability at PRASA, comprising good governance and further bringing the organisation into disrepute, the public spats continued unabated, and it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.”

However, Peters added that Letsoalo’s removal from PRASA should not “be misconstrued” as an indication of any wrongdoing, but rather as part of a broader intervention to restore stability, as “unwarranted behaviour” from both sides contributed to the irretrievable breakdown of the relationship and trust between the board and Letsoalo.