South Africa activists seek prosecutions over Prasa's R3.5 billion Swifambo contract

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Prasa Swifambo contract prosecutions

Highlights

#UniteBehind submitted an affidavit and forensic bank report on 2 April to the NPA, SIU, and Hawks urging prosecution over Prasa's R3.5 billion Swifambo contract.
Only 13 of 70 locomotives were delivered before paying R2.65 billion; the units were unusable, courts declared the Swifambo tender corrupt and fraudulent in 2017 and 2018.
Prasa’s monthly passenger trips collapsed from 54 million in 2008/09 to 1.7 million in 2021–22, with activists attributing operational decline to corrupt procurement losses.

Affidavit targets delayed rail corruption case

As first reported by Moneyweb, citing GroundUp, #UniteBehind hand-delivered an affidavit on Tuesday to the National Prosecuting Authority offices in Cape Town, while also submitting it to the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit. The filing asks the NPA to investigate, subpoena and prosecute parties linked to alleged corrupt procurement at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa more than a decade ago.

The affidavit is accompanied by a forensic report on bank records that, according to the group, identifies transaction patterns for scrutiny and proposes subpoena steps for prosecutors. In the filing, #UniteBehind director Zackie Achmat says the conduct should be investigated as an organised criminal enterprise rather than as separate procurement irregularities.

The case centres on a 2013 tender awarded by Prasa to Swifambo for a R3.5 billion locomotive contract. Only 13 of the planned 70 locomotives were delivered, and the trains were too tall for the rail network, while about R2.65 billion had already been paid before the contract was halted.

South African courts have already ruled against the deal. In 2017, the Gauteng High Court found the Swifambo tender process corrupt and fraudulent, and in November 2018 the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Swifambo's appeal and upheld that ruling.

Advocate Tommy Bunguzana, deputy director of public prosecutions at the NPA, received the documents on Tuesday and said the authority would respond. The affidavit asks the NPA to reply within 30 days and explain what action it has taken.

Rail service impact and political pressure

The activist group argues the alleged theft had direct operational consequences for South Africa's commuter rail system, diverting funds that should have gone to infrastructure, rolling stock, signalling and security. It says the resulting damage helped drive the collapse of lines and services, with long-term costs now being borne again by the public purse.

Prasa recorded 54 million passenger trips a month at its peak in 2008/09, but that fell to an average of 1.7 million rail passenger trips a month between January 2021 and June 2022. The affidavit also points to Cape Town's Central Line, which serves some of the city's poorest communities and was closed for years.

#UniteBehind is also pressing parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts to hold hearings on Swifambo and to examine the conduct of the Hawks, SIU and NPA over the prolonged lack of prosecutions. On 18 August this year, Scopa heard that no prosecutions had been brought in either the Swifambo matter or the separate Siyangena contract linked to former Prasa chief executive Lucky Montana's tenure.

NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says the submission will be forwarded to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Pretoria, which will communicate directly with #UniteBehind. Prasa spokesperson Andiswa Makanda says the agency is not aware of criminal proceedings related to Swifambo and continues to support investigations when information is requested.

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