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Efforts afoot to tackle metro rail train sabotage

A train carriage burning
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Transport Minister Blade Nzimande says various efforts are currently being made to tackle the sabotage of metro rail train lines, especially in the Western Cape.

He says he notes the call by civil society organisation #Unite Behind for Passenger Railway Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the Ministry to institute a thorough investigation into the burning of trains in the province.

#Unite Behind wants Prasa and the minister to work with the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to arrest the perpetrators.

Ministerial spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi says Nzimande has already started discussions with various counterparts who are responsible for justice security and crime prevention.

“Minister Nzimande met with the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster to look at the issues that relate to the sabotage of the metro rail networks in Cape Town. That will then lead us to various commissions instituted which will then deal with particular instances of what is happening there. We also welcome the arrest of 150 people who are currently appearing in court, who have been fingered in the burning of trains in the various corridors in the Eastern Cape,” adds Mnisi.

DA Spokesperson on Police Zak Mbele says crime intelligence is failing to trace the syndicate that he says are behind the burning of the trains, especially the Western Cape. Mbele says the trains are the backbone of the mass commuter system in the Western Cape. Scores of commuter trains have been burned this year, with the latest case a train that was torched at the Cape Town Station last week. And Mbele says crime intelligence is not keeping up with the criminals.

“The main failure when it comes to the arson incidents at our train stations in Cape Town is a failure of crime intelligence in order to identify the syndicates that are driving the spate of attacks. It is clearly organised. There is clearly some co-ordination because it is achieving the very clear outcome of the crippling the backbone of mass commuter systems in the city,” says Mbele.

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