Meeting to check on progress of Public Protector's Metrorail probe

File photo: Supplied

File photo: Supplied

Published Sep 13, 2018

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Nceba Hinana, chairperson of the standing committee on transport in the Western Cape Legislature, will meet Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Friday to discuss whether progress is being made on the probe into the state of Metrorail in the province. 

The Public Protector’s Office had received a letter on August 29 from the provincial parliament’s standing committee on transport and public works, requesting that she urgently investigate the causes behind the ­myriad failures of Metrorail in the Western Cape. Since October 2015, arson damage alone has amounted to more than R500 million.

Hinana also wanted Mkhwebane to investigate the mismanagement of Metrorail by the Ministry of Transport and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). Hinana urged the public protector to also investigate the lack of convictions, arrests and general corruption within Prasa and Metrorail.

He said Metrorail continued to suffer from inadequate infrastructure, safety concerns, delays and cancellations.

Hinana told the SABC on Thursday that what concerns him most is that no one is being held accountable. 

"During the meeting I will enquire from the public protector as to what the next steps are for the investigation and what actions she has taken to investigate the matter so far. 

"I am pleased that the Public Protector's Office is making the investigation of Metrorail's crisis a priority and look forward to having a productive discussion at the end of this week."

This comes as the deployment of a dedicated rail enforcement unit in the city has been delayed by a month due to Prasa's failure to adhere to a co-funding agreement.

This has stalled the recruitment process as only 70 of the earmarked 100 officers could be trained so far. The officers are now expected to be deployed at the beginning of November, Mayco member for transport and urban development Brett Herron told the Cape Times on Tuesday.

It was only severe criticism from Herron at the weekend over Prasa being “reckless and careless” by failing to protect the safety of rail commuters that seemingly led to the rail agency reaffirming its commitment to paying its R16 million share needed to get the unit up and running. It released a statement to that effect with its co-funders, the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government, on Tuesday.

Had it not been for the outrage over the deadly attack on commuters travelling on a train between Lynedoch and Eerste River on Friday evening‚ which resulted in the death of one man and eight other commuters being robbed of their belongings before being thrown off the train, Prasa, who had signed a memorandum of agreement in May, might still be dragging its heels.

On Sunday, Herron said the City had asked Minister of Transport Blade Nzimande to declare a state of emergency due to Cape Town’s rail services being under siege. Nzimande’s department has acknowledged receiving the request but hasn’t responded yet.

Commenting on the request, Herron said this week: “When I wrote to Mr Blade Nzimande, I was asking to see what executive powers he has to put in place a rapid response team that could turn this collapse of Metrorail around. Whether he could declare a disaster or an emergency, the purpose of which is to divert extra financial funding and resources to get the rail capacity back up to what it needs to be.

"We need extra policing resources on the rail system, so it really was a case of seeking a rapid response to turn this around and the state of emergency or disaster, whichever is the most appropriate, should enable the Treasury to divert funds to make this happen."

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