Shosholoza Meyl fiasco: Bring back the railway police

Even by the elevated tragicomic nature of our state-owned enterprises, this was a pearler.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) announced with great fanfare that it was resuming the “Shosholoza Meyl” mainline train service between Joburg and Cape Town. But the train didn’t make it…

At Wellington, outside the Mother City, the inaugural train’s passengers had to alight and be taken the rest of the way by bus. That was because the overhead power cables had been stolen overnight.

The timing was exquisite and while, to some extent, the agency can blame “challenges”, the situation should have been foreseen and, with proper security in place, could have been averted.

ALSO READ: ‘It has ended in tears’ – Train passengers from Joburg to Cape Town forced to take the bus

Our mainline and commuter rail infrastructure has been ruthlessly stripped since before Covid, mainly because the then transport minister, Fikile Mbalula, did away with the railway police and then fired a security company brought in to do the job. And he never replaced that company.

Another spectacular own goal.

Yet, Mbalula crows repeatedly about any slight step towards where we were years ago.

We need to bring back the railway police and act ruthlessly against those who steal railway infrastructure. If we don’t, then we may as well call it the “Shosholoza Half-Meyl”…

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