The Hawks, a special police unit in South Africa that investigates serious crimes, raided the headquarters of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) on Wednesday.
Prasa HQ Raid: Hawks Investigate Billion-Rand Train Contract Scandal
This operation is part of an ongoing investigation into how the agency awarded two very large train contracts worth R18 billion.
The raid happened at Prasa’s main offices in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Officers from the Hawks’ Specialised Commercial Crime Unit arrived to collect evidence.
They took laptops, mobile phones, and documents from several top executives. These include acting CEO Hishaam Emeran, chief procurement officer Asif Rehman, head of legal Nompumelelo Gamedze-Phasha, and chief financial officer Brian Alexander.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo said they could not give many details because the investigation is still going on.
“An operation was conducted as part of an ongoing investigation. To protect the integrity of our investigation, we cannot disclose details pertaining to that operation,” Mbambo explained.
According to News24, the investigation is focused on two contracts that were given to Maziya General Services in 2023. This company is linked to businessman Chris Delport and his Chinese partners.
The contracts were supposed to upgrade train signalling equipment across the country.
However, there are claims that Maziya General Services did not meet important requirements. These include being registered with the tax office and submitting certain financial guarantees known as bid bonds.
Despite this, Prasa’s board and executives reportedly still approved the deals.
After these concerns were reported in the media last year, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy hired a law firm, Webber Wentzel, to investigate. The law firm has now finished its report and given it to the minister. She has not yet shared the findings with the public.
“I am still studying it. I am not commenting. When we are ready to comment on that report, we will,” Creecy told News24 in early July.
Although the investigation is still ongoing, the Hawks’ raid suggests that law enforcement is taking the matter seriously. For now, there have been no arrests, and Prasa has not released an official response.