The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has lost a shocking 823 and 565 train coaches for Metrorail and Shosholoza Meyl respectively due to vandalism and theft in the past three financial years resulting in over R503 million in losses, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.
This information was revealed in replies to DA parliamentary questions to Transport Minister Blade Nzimande, DA MP Manny de Freitas said.
Rail safety was a national competency and it was Prasa’s responsibility to ensure the efficient running of trains across the country and assure commuter safety for those who used this mode of transport.
It was inconceivable that while vandalism had been increasing, Prasa had completely neglected security. Another reply to a DA parliamentary question revealed that since 2012/13 private security dropped from 3883 to 2676 security personnel - a shocking 31 percent drop. In the Gauteng region, the figure dropped from 2117 to 1324 personnel (37.5 percent) and in the Western Cape region from 1084 to 799 (26.2 percent), he said.
Thousands of commuters across the country had already been left stranded as a result of train lines being suspended due to the loss of 1388 coaches that had been vandalised. Clearly, Prasa had failed to implement contingency plans to alleviate the problem of vandalism and violence on the railway system.
The DA repeated its call for:
- The re-introduction of a specialised railway safety police to take over security operations, as current private security companies were clearly not fully equipped to combat crime and vandalism;
- Appointing a capable, qualified, full-time board and the removal of compromised acting executives and board members;
- An urgent update as to the progress made in upgrading the current signal system so that no manual signal was used and unnecessary crashes, derailments, and security issues avoided; and;
- That Prasa cedes control of Metrorail services and the allocated budget, which was currently a national competency, to metro councils to ensure an efficient and safe integrated transportation system for all commuters.
"It is clear that Prasa is failing in carrying out its mandate, leaving the poor to bear the brunt of years of poor management and bad decision-making," De Freitas said.
- African News Agency
