Is Prasa still in quarantine, asks Mashaba
He questioned why taxis had managed to put measures in place while Prasa trains remained 'in quarantine' in the same lockdown.
Former DA Johannesburg mayor and founder of The People’s Dialogue, Herman Mashaba. Image: Twitter/@HermanMashaba
The People’s Dialogue founder Herman Mashaba has questioned why the taxi industry managed to put health measures in place, while the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) couldn’t do the same.
“This is unacceptable,” he said questioning how people could get to work under the current circumstances, as the country kicks off under Level 3 on Monday.
During a briefing on the new transport regulations set to come into effect from today, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said government had indicated that commuter rail would resume operations gradually on an incremental basis.
It was through consultations with the public rail entity where it dawned that the entity was not entirely ready to operate safely.
“Prasa was ready to go on Monday but we can’t take that risk. There are thousands of commuters who depend on these trains and we simply cannot allow people to travel on top of one another.
“We will utilise the month of June to get ready and we are confident that from July, Prasa will operate selected lines. We cannot open a service simply to have it become a vehicle to spread the virus.”
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