The Presidency has not met the deadline to respond to an open letter sent by civil society coalition #UniteBehind, which had wanted a national disaster declared over the arson attacks on trains and at stations.
#UniteBehind had given President Cyril Ramaphosa until Monday to reply to its call. It believes the "scope of economic sabotage" is beyond the powers available to local and provincial government and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), and urged the national government to step in to get the rail system back on track. #UniteBehind wants Prasa, local and national government, the SAPS, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority to tackle the train crisis in a unified manner.
"A national disaster is one in which a single province is unable to deal with the disastrous event effectively. This is clearly the case here," #UniteBehind said in its letter to Ramaphosa.
Before intervening to end Monday’s taxi strike, the Western Cape ANC said the entire public transport system in the province needed to be overhauled. It called for a “permanent resolution to the taxi industry's various challenges and concerns, permanent solutions to the train security and operational challenges, and a better operational model for MyCiTi and the busing system".
Matthew Hirsch of #UniteBehind said yesterday: “We haven’t yet had a response from the Presidency. We obviously understand that the president has a lot to deal with at the moment. We will follow up the matter and see if we can get some sort of letter of acknowledgement.
“We believe this matter has to be escalated with greater urgency than is happening at the moment. We will continue trying to find a way of working with the government to find some sort of solution for all the arson attacks. We definitely won’t stop with our #FixOurTrains campaign (a letter sent to the Presidency in February also did not meet with a response). There has to be more unified action between the relevant authorities.”
The Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) said last week there will be no train service nationwide from September if Prasa doesn’t get its act together. This would be disastrous, to say the least, for millions of commuters nationwide. The RSR said it is “hopeful that it doesn’t come to this”, but feels it can no longer compromise on the safety of millions of commuters.
Prasa was issued with a temporary safety permit by RSR last week and a contravention notice for operating trains on August 1 without a valid safety permit. The temporary permit is valid until August 31.
"The continuous arson attacks, corrupt, unqualified, non-PSIRA (Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority) registered security, and theft of key equipment and infrastructure have crippled our commuter rail system. These are not random acts of violence, but a concerted effort against Cape Town's public transport system and, by extension, our economy. Our city and around half a million rail commuters are under attack," ÜniteBehind said.
It is hoped that a new “railway police” unit will help curb the arson attacks, resulting in R50 million in damage the past four months, and ensure commuter safety. However, it has to be seen how effective a mere 100 new recruits will be when they go on the beat at the end of September.
The Presidency hadn’t responded to a request for comment on #UniteBehind’s call at the time of publishing.