Statement by Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis

Following the publication of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s annual report and detailed reportage by amaBhungane, it is clear that the reversal of the terminal decline of passenger rail in South Africa will only be achieved by urgent devolution of passenger rail to functional metros like Cape Town.

The statistics confirm that Prasa now only transports 3% of the number of passengers it was able to transport 10 years ago. And key contracts worth billions to get the system up and running again are in jeopardy after concerns around irregularities. If these rail regeneration contracts are stalled or found to have been abused as just another opportunity to further state capture, then this would be the most urgent indication yet that devolution is needed now.

Media reports about Prasa’s annual report state that only 134 out of 590 stations are still functioning, however, it is likely that even less are actually open to the public. Only 18 out of 40 national railway lines are still operational, and again, it is most likely that even fewer than the 18 lines are actually fully functional. What is clear is that the national government has allowed a national asset to fall into ruin and has no plan to repair it.

The complete mismanagement by Prasa confirms that there is no hope of the national government or its state entities turning around passenger rail and they need to start planning for the handover process without delay.

While the City of Cape Town commenced with a Rail Feasibility Study earlier this year to determine the logistics, practicalities and timeframes involved for taking over the management of passenger rail, I have also written to National Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula to convene an urgent working group to run concurrently with the feasibility study.

To this end, the City of Cape Town completed the first deliverable of this study, i.e. the Inception Report. The second deliverable is a Baseline Report, which is to establish the status-quo of the commuter rail environment in the City’s functional area. A critical requirement to completion of this deliverable is that we have access to all institutional, financial and technical information associated with operating the current rail system in Cape Town. The City is currently engaging Prasa directly for access to this information.

The National Cabinet earlier this year approved the White Paper on National Rail Policy, which states clearly that passenger rail needs to be devolved to capable local governments. The residents of our city simply cannot wait any longer for this process to start.

Source: City Of Cape Town