PRASA to investigate chair after he moved into agency's luxury home

The board of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA has instituted an internal inquiry into its chair Leonard Ramatlakane following a report that he moved his family into a luxury house belonging to the State-owned company. The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Ramatlakane moved into the house in Newlands, Cape Town because his own home was undergoing renovations, and he ended up hosting a 70th birthday party there. According to the report, the home is meant to be used by its execs on work trips, to avoid hotel costs. PRASA recently spent R2.5-million on upgrading the house. PRASA told the Sunday Times that he was renting the home with a lease valid from December to February, but that this was later extended to March. The agency then said in a statement on Thursday that its board had an urgent meeting in the week and "after much deliberation, the board resolved to refer the allegations for an internal inquiry, in line with applicable PRASA policies and the law."