Former PRASA board case postponed

The urgent High Court case brought by former PRASA board members to have their dismissal by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters set aside, was postponed on Thursday morning.

After a minute of appearing in the High Court in Pretoria, Advocate David Unterhalter SC requested a postponement to file an answering affidavit in response to former PRASA acting group CEO Collins Letsoalo's intervening affidavit.

Unterhalter asked Judge Peter Mabuse for a postponement until 14:00 to respond to Letsoalo, as well as Peters's responding affidavit.

Letsoalo wants to join the axed board's application.

In a letter to Webber Wentzel attorneys, Letsoalo's lawyer argues that his client has a substantial interest in the matter.

Webber Wentzel attorneys are representing PRASA's former board members, including chair Popo Molefe. They say that Letsoalo identified serious and false allegations which sought to tarnish his reputation in the founding affidavit.

"Your client's failure to join our client as a respondent has been prejudicial to our client. As a result, our client has decided to make an application to court to be permitted to intervene in the application and to be joined as a respondent," Letsoalo's attorneys wrote.

They added that he has been left with little time to file court papers and requested that the matter be postponed until next week.

In a letter to Letsoalo's attorneys, the board cautioned that should he approach the court to join in as a respondent, he should not prevent the proceedings from being heard.

The former board members warned Letsoalo that they would seek punitive costs against him in his personal capacity, and argued for a finding of contempt of court, should he request a delay.

Molefe was seated in the front row during the short appearance in the packed courtroom.

He filed an urgent application for the court to declare the board's dissolution unlawful, to reinstate the board members to their former positions, and to prevent an interim board from being appointed.