The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has dismissed its group executive for information technology Chris Mbhatha.
PRASA said in a statement on Thursday that Mbhatha had been found guilty of having been involved in the illegal awarding of a contract to Siyangena Technologies for the installation of automatic speed gates, electronic information boards and surveillance systems, besides other infrastructure.
PRASA is working to recover about R4.5-billion paid to Siyangena for the contract.
Earlier this year, PRASA submitted an affidavit to the Pretoria High Court detailing the awarding of the contract to Siyangena without following proper tender procedures and further alleged that Siyangena had installed outdated, overpriced and ineffective security systems, thus urging that the contract be set aside.
In response, the PRASA board set up processes to allow for investigations into various allegations of corruption.
"These processes resulted in formal charges against Mbatha and his subsequent dismissal. Other executives who were also charged on the same matter have been found guilty and dismissed after a fair hearing," the rail agency said.
"PRASA has a duty to investigate all the reports coming from the Public Protector, the National Treasury and the Auditor-General. The process of investigation has been fair and has allowed all parties the opportunity to respond to the allegations," it added.