Cape Town - Cosatu said while it was not happy with the Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s (Prasa) delayed response to demands it made two years ago, it was satisfied with the agency’s willingness to report back on progress made to date.
Cosatu provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn made the statement while addressing demonstrators gathered outside Cape Town station on Wednesday in protest against the rail agency’s delayed response to demands it had made pre-Covid.
On February 20, 2020, Cosatu and affiliate unions handed a memorandum of demands to Prasa, reportedly after unsuccessful engagements with the provincial government, national government, the City, Prasa and the Cape Chamber of Commerce at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) regarding the state of public transport in the Western Cape.
In its memorandum, Cosatu issued demands to Prasa, the City and the national government.
It demanded that Prasa cut the cost of train tickets by 50% until trains were fully operational and that Prasa deploy security officials on trains and stations.
The union federation also demanded that the national government initiate its intelligence services to develop a plan of action that would properly address the problem of destruction of train infrastructure.
Cosatu further called on the City to support Prasa with Law Enforcement to patrol trains and stations and to implement the Rail Modernisation Plan intervention.
Prasa CEO David Mphelo, accompanied by Prasa board chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane, met Cosatu to report back on the progress it had made.
Mphelo said: “As Prasa we note grievances and demands for a functional rail service. The federation’s demands included the resumption of services on the Central Line.
“Today I can say that we have indeed made progress in recovering a great part of our rail infrastructure following its destruction at the hands of criminal syndicates and opportunistic criminal activities during the hard lockdown.
“We recovered services on the Northern and Southern Line corridors, and we are resuming the Central Line in phases while the Housing Development Agency finalises the relocation processes.
“On security deployments, 1380 security personnel have been in-sourced, with the deployment expected to increase. Our integrated security plan is bearing fruit in the corridors.”
Mphelo said other issues raised by Cosatu and its affiliates, including wage increases, would be deliberated at board level in line with the prescripts of the law and relevant legislation.
He said: “Prasa views the plight of workers worsened by the rising fuel costs and commuting costs seriously. We are pleading with labour and commuters for patience as the organisation recovers the rail infrastructure nationally.”
In response to Prasa’s statement, De Bruyn said: “We are not happy, but we are satisfied that Prasa at least had the guts to come down and face us. They have also committed to giving us feedback in the 14 days following that. We will then decide our next step, whether to take further action or leave it at that.”