The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) on Thursday said it had sacked its chief executive Zolani Mathews for failing to disclose that he was an “Englishman”.
Prasa said its board had “unanimously resolved to terminate with immediate effect the employment contract of its GCEO Mr. Zolani Kgosientsile Mathews.”
Mathews was placed on precautionary suspension last month when he failed to get “top security clearance” from the State Security Agency.
The reason Mathews was denied the clearance was because he has dual citizenship for South Africa and England.
Prasa said Mathews was probed as to whether he deliberately and intentionally failed to disclose that he had dual citizenship.
The rail agency said the findings were adverse against Mathews and the board decided that not disclosing that he was an Englishman was so serious as to warrant immediate dismissal.
Matthews was hired in March 2021 at the age of 64 to be the first Prasa Group CEO in nearly six years. He is the son of the late struggle stalwart Joe Matthews, who was exiled in England with his family.
