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DA calls on Prasa to handover control of Metrorail in Cape Town

DA members
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The Democratic Alliance (DA) says the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) should hand over the control of Metrorail services in Cape Town to city authorities.

The party held a picket outside Prasa headquarters in Pretoria where they handed a memorandum of demands to the company’s management.

The picket by the DA comes against the backdrop of a deadly train crash in Pretoria earlier in January where three people were killed.

The party has been visiting various train stations across the country to assess among others, safety issues. The acceleration of the modernisation of rail infrastructure and the implementation of an emergency safety plan are some of their demands.

They also want Prasa to cede control of Metrorail services to metro councils.

DA spokesperson on corruption, Phumzile van Damme believes the City of Cape Town metro council can do a better job.

“We also want the control of Metrorail to be ceded to metros in the city of Cape Town. We are confident it Metrorail is given to us, we will run the service to excellent standard where the people of Cape Town can have trains that are on time; trains that are clean; a trains service that works for them, that takes them from where they live to their places of work and make sure that they arrive on time.”

Van Damme says the effects of corruption at Prasa are taking its toll on the poor, who use trains as a daily mode of transport due to its affordability.

“The effects of corruption at Prasa means there are not enough trains; there’s not enough safety on trains. I took a train ride this week where the carriage was full; no space to breathe, people riding on top of carriages. So, because of that corruption there’s not enough trains. It means their safety is compromised; it means they become late at work. So, a lot of people spoke about how they receive warnings when they get to work. When they get to work they are turned back because they are late.”

Meanwhile, Prasa has acknowledged the demands by the party.

Spokesperson Dr Sipho Sithole says Prasa also needs the assistance of commuters to ensure a safe railway service.

“We used to have 14 000 police that were deployed, that were used to protect the infrastructure, to protect the citizens. Today, we have less than 4 000 that are supposed to be deployed to do that job. Our security cannot do it alone.”

 

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