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Pretoria - Popo Molefe, the chairperson of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), should be dismissed with immediate effect by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, Satawu said on Thursday.
The SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) had staged a march from Pretoria train station to Prasa's head office in Hatfield, where national coordinator Zacharia Mosothoane addressed the around 600 marchers early on Thursday afternoon.
"The chairperson Popo Molefe is not fit to serve in the public office based on his damaging and disastrous history... He's corrupt," Mosothoane said.
"He must fok off indeed. This comrade, the same comrade, remember he was in North West [as premier]. He failed. He went somewhere, he failed, he came here, he's failing. He's a failure in general," Mosothoane said to the riled up crowd, Prasa security staff looking on.
"This failure, he's now here in Prasa, coming from PetroSA [where he was chairperson] where he introduced the same methods that he wants to operate here."
He said Molefe had told Prasa they had too many employees, which Satawu flatly rejected.
"Satawu is saying that is rubbish. That is nonsense. He must come to us and ask, we will tell him," Mosothoane said.
"The CEO was fired from PetroSA for refusing to retrench. The same is happening here. If PetroSA was led by that person [Molefe], led to bankruptcy, our beloved Prasa, we still love you, we don't want to see bankruptcy here. So Popo must leave."
'We are sitting with a corrupt board'
Satawu also called for board members Zodwa Manase and William Steenkamp to be removed.
Mosothoane said Manase was unfit to hold office as she had allegedly been charged with four counts of tax evasion by the SA Revenue Service.
Steenkamp's appointment to the board had been illegitimate, as had Manase's.
"They must both fok off. She [Manase] is corrupt... We are sitting with a corrupt board," Mosothoane said.
"The minister [Dipuo Peters] must dissolve the board with immediate effect. If they fail... failure by the powers that be to adhere by our demands will lead to a long and a protracted mission. We will make this minister [Peters] a special project at Satawu."
At the Prasa offices, Satawu handed over their memorandum of demands to the deputy director general of rail transport within the transport department.
The crowd continually called upon the Prasa board and CEO Lucky Montana to accept their memorandum. When a member of Prasa management attempted to address the crowd, they waved her away, booing the woman and calling for Molefe.
