Johnathan Paoli
Rea Vaya bus operating company PioTrans has confirmed on Wednesday that it has been placed under business rescue.
This follows a South Gauteng High Court order, which ordered PioTrans to be placed under business rescue, after two creditors failed to receive the outstanding debt owed to them.
The company has been operating one of Johannesburg’s biggest bus lines since 2010 when the City of Johannesburg partnered with local taxi drivers to create a bus operating company.
Business rescue practitioner Mahier Tayob said immediate steps were being taken to turn around the company’s finances and would ensure bus operations would continue uninterrupted.
The Rea Vaya board has been dissolved, after what Tayob said was the discovery of evidence suggesting corrupt governance and criminal activity at the bus operating company.
“It appears the company finds itself in this predicament because of fraud, maladministration, mismanagement of company assets, poor governance, a lack of expertise to manage the project and a lack of understanding within the project,” Tayob said.
Despite dissolving the board, Tayob said that operations would continue as to minimise disruptions and that he was currently in negotiations with both the unions and drivers, and that he had already secured fuel for the vehicles.
“We will strengthen internal control systems, we will make sure we develop a strategy and a business rescue plan that can work, but, simultaneously, we need to know what went wrong, who was responsible for it and to what extent,” Tayob said.
In addition, reports surfaced that certain taxi owners who agreed to trade in their vehicles for a 66% share in PioTrans have expressed dismay following the placement of the company under business rescue.
Johannesburg Transport MMC Kenny Kunene said, despite the potential financial loss, placement under business rescue was the last resort.
“Mine is one and one priority only, and that is to assist the 309 families that have given away their taxis to be part of this BRT [Bus Rapid Transit] arrangement,” Kunene said.
Earlier this year, many commuters were left stranded on multiple occasions following Rea Vaya drivers downing tools over non-payment of their salaries.
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