The resignation last night of Nazir Alli, the CEO of the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) seems to have been written in
the stars. Or at least it was as soon as Judge
Prinsloo delivered the verdict that Gauteng’s
so-called e-toll plan should be
paused until certain legal processes were completed. He leaves his office on
the 3rd of June.
Alli, who has been with SANRAL for 14 years, appears to have been the fall guy in this infamous e-toll
saga, although for the longest time he was the main champion of the proposed system. Although no official reason has
been given, there is speculation that
his departure has been fuelled by the embarrassing R20 billion project that has seen one of the biggest public
outcries in recent New South Africa memory.
“On behalf of the transport family,” said his political boss
Transport Minister S’bu Ndebele, “we
express our sincere gratitude to Mr
Alli for his tireless efforts and contribution
since the inception of SANRAL in 1998. Under his leadership, South Africa developed a road network that can compete with the best in the world.”
A successor has
not yet been named. All that was said is that the Inter-Ministerial committee (what else) appointed by Cabinet, will be working on ensuring
SANRAL operates normally. Among the issues it will work on is how exactly do we
pay back the borrowed R20 billion
without bankrupting the entire State.
No comments:
Post a Comment