The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has confirmed that its head of engineering Daniel Mtimkulu lied about his qualifications

By Staff Writer – July 18, 2015 115 Comments

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has confirmed that its head of engineering, Daniel Mtimkulu lied about his qualifications. This is according to an EWN report.

Recent articles questioned Mtimkulu’s qualification, which has been reported to be an engineering degree from WITS and a doctorate in engineering from a German institution.

Yesterday Prasa announced that Mtimkulu has been suspended following an investigation into his qualifications.

“I can confirm that he has been suspended after an investigation surrounding his actual qualifications,” Prasa spokesperson Sipho Sithole told News24.

This announcement followed only two days after Prasa CEO Lucky Montana was dismissed.

The dismissal of Montana and the suspension of Mtimkulu followed numerous reports that brand new locomotives from Europe worth hundreds of millions of Rands were purchased despite warnings that the trains are not suited for local rail lines.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has to date received thirteen new diesel locomotives that are too high for the long distance routes they were intended for, in what may be one of the country’s largest and most expensive tender blunders.

Montana has rejected the article which claimed that its new batch of locomotives exceed the height restrictions for local tracks.

Montana also defended Mtimkulu, and suggested that the engineering team was being undermined because the lead engineer is black.