The South African Police Service (SAPS) have arrested an 11-year-old gang leader for inciting his friend to join him in jumping onto moving train wagons of Transnet Freight Rail when they are passing on the Northern line in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU, the boy has been released into the care of his parents and they were warned to appear in court with him.
He says the gang is creating a serious safety risk.
Harris received four video clips of the gang playing on the train wagons.
The children take advantage of the fact that the trains on this route must keep to a speed restriction of 15 km per hour as they are entering an area where pedestrians cross the railway line without looking or don't realise the speed of the approaching train.
According to the recent figures in the State of Rail Safety Report of the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) there has been 375 fatalities due to operational occurrences and 2 660 injuries due to operational occurrences in the previous financial year. At the same time there was a 36% increase in fatalities due to safety related occurrences.
Although UNTU disputes this figure and believes it only reflects a fraction of the true state of rail safety, the statistics known to the RSR is a great concern.
"Parents must teach their children that it is no joke playing near a railway line, not even to mention a moving train. These children are not only putting their own lives at risk, but also the lives of the train driver and the train assistant as they are forced to watch the children playing on the wagons instead of keeping their eyes on the railway lines and on the signals they are passing.
"To make matters worse, it is the train driver and the train assistant who will be charged if anything happens to the children putting their jobs in jeopardy. This is not even considering the emotional trauma the train driver and train assistant goes through if they cannot prevent an injury.
"It is unacceptable that the lawlessness in our country has become so bad that children think they can get away with this," says Harris.
