The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) 2016-2017 report was released late, almost a year to the day. In August I made public a leaked version of it. It is clear that the officially released version of this report has been doctored as there are differences between the two versions. The official version indicates that Prasa losses increased from R533m in 2015-2016 to R927m in 2016-2017 despite an increase in the operational subsidy from R4.9bn to R5.2bn. The so-called "new dawn" is not taking place at Prasa. It is more of an "old dusk" as this transport agency continues to bleed taxpayers’ money. Operating expenses increased by R1.3bn (that’s 15%) while revenue decreased by R392m (12%). According to the report, the increase in the operating expenses was due to a liability of R635m for a National Transport Movement ruling by the Labour Appeal Court. However, even subtracting that judgment, operating expenses went up R765m. At the same time Prasa spent only R6.7bn of its allocated R13....
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