DURBAN - It is going to cost the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) over R6 billion to restore services damaged due to the national lockdown.
Prasa on Tuesday reported that KwaZulu-Natal was number three in the country regarding vandalism and theft at their stations.
“Fortunately, it did not have an area where the entire lines were destroyed like in Cape Town and Mapobane,” said Prasa board chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane.
“We are now talking billions to restore the services to a place they were before the damage caused in the period following the lockdown alert level 5 last year.”
Ramatlakane said when the trains were stopped last year and there was no security on the railways, criminals found space to take over and dig out the rail lines and pull down the wires.
“You could see from the way the infrastructure has been taken out that it is done by organised crime. The criminals know exactly the type of tools to use to take the infrastructure out, which is why we say that these are syndicates. You also cannot exclude the fact that internally, those also in Prasa may have contributed to this problem,” said Ramatlakane.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda agreed that organised crime was at play.
“The magnitude of these crimes shows that these are committed by syndicates. The calamity that continues to ravage our railways not only undermines our efforts to modernise the rail system and keep our economy running, but also results in the loss of jobs and the loss of life,” he said.
As an intervention to the railway problems, Prasa also launched the People’s Responsibility to Protect Programme in KZN on Tuesday which would see 20 volunteers deployed to each of the 500 Prasa stations nationwide.
“The programme aims to create partnerships between Prasa and local communities living near railway lines. Communities will then provide a force multiplier additional to Prasa security in protecting rail infrastructure. In KZN, already over 100 volunteers who will be paid a stipend have been trained. All in all, over 9 000 volunteers will be mobilised countrywide which will be implemented in five phases,” said Kaunda.
Acting SAPS Provincial Commissioner Major General Thulani Gonya said: “We are looking forward to working more closely with Prasa security as these are the kind of crime prevention strategies that we need. It is unacceptable that trains get delayed due to theft and criminality because it has a very negative effect on the economy.”
Daily News