Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula is reportedly considering roping in Police Minister Bheki Cele to address some of the security issues commuters face during Cape Town train commutes.
Mbalula, who was shocked to be travelling in what appeared to be a skeleton of a train as a result of theft from Khayelitsha to KwaLanga train station on Tuesday morning, said government needed to step up and address the challenges faced by commuters.
Freeways are packed with motorists avoiding trains, Mbalula said, suggesting traffic would be reduced if more people used trains.
If it meant he had to work with Bheki Cele to ensure some safety issues were irradicated, Mbalula said he would make the call to ensure adequate urgent attention was implemented to scare criminals away from the rail tracks.
He conceded to ongoing issues at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and mentioned leadership as an issue due to the consistent reshuffling at the department.
“This department has for some time been without the director-general, and everybody has been acting, including at the DD level.
“Prasa, talking about it, you know what an epic disaster it is. We have not had consistent formidable boards, we have not had consistent people at managerial levels. As we speak, the board is acting, the CEO is acting. There’s no sustainability, it has been ad-hoc [due to the constant change of plans].”
Mbalula vowed to tackle the issues of crime, safety, and delayed trains head-on.
This was after his own commute was interrupted by another train being involved in an accident, forcing Mbalula and several other commuters to board a Prasa bus to travel the rest of the way to Langa train station.
At dawn, a memorandum was handed to Mbalula by the United Behind Movement members, who protested to his arrival at the train station, calling for action on delayed trains and service delivery.
(Compiled by Gopolang Moloko)
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