Prasa appoints new group CEO

© Peter Titmuss – 123RF.com

Sithole has been appointed to bring stability and certainty to Prasa.

Addressing senior executives at the welcome meeting on Tuesday morning, Sithole emphasised the need for Prasa and employees to be cognisant of the role the organisation is playing, which is focusing on delivering on the needs of the poorest of the poor who rely on rail as the backbone of public transport.

Sithole is the former city manager of eThekwini Municipality.

“A turnaround strategist and policy specialist, Sithole has held key positions, including general manager at Umgeni Water Board, Xhuma Development Solutions, just to mention a few,” Prasa said.

Chairperson of the board of control, Khanyisile Kweyama, said the appointment of Sithole comes at an opportune moment and hopes that he can hit the ground running.

“Sithole is quite aware of the immense challenges facing the organisation. Prasa is at its worst performance levels and there is an expectation from the public that we serve for the organisation to turn itself around.

“We cannot overemphasise what our expectation as a board is from the CEO. Fortunately, with the kind of experience he has, we should not expect any difficulty in him executing the task at hand,” Prasa said.

Sithole holds a B. Proc (Law) Degree from University of Natal, Masters in Education from Manchester University (UK), MBA in Corporate Strategy (UNISA), and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration with Walden University (USA).

The board has urged all staff and management to give Sithole all the support he will need during this challenging period.