DA looks to take over train services in Cape Town

DA Cape Town mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis has vowed to intensify the fight to take control of the metro’s train system to avert its collapse.

“We believe that the boundaries of the constitution have not yet been properly tested on this matter,” Hill-Lewis said on Thursday. The DA also wants to rope in private players to help run train services in the city.

Public transport is an area of local government competence, and the constitution provides that a municipality “has the right to exercise any power concerning a matter reasonably necessary for, or incidental to, the effective performance of its functions”, Hill-Lewis said.

Cape Town is plagued by an inefficient and unreliable rail service that on many occasions has left commuters stranded, which has affected their incomes and the productivity of many businesses in the city.

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) is responsible for rail services, considered the backbone of public transport in Cape Town. But Prasa’s subsidiary, Metrorail, has been under pressure because its rail commuter services have been in serious decline caused by decades of underinvestment, outdated technology, the loss of critical skills, deferred maintenance and corruption.

Hill-Lewis, who is also a DA MP and its finance spokesperson, said the party’s analysis, which mapped all the city’s wards, shows Metrorail has collapsed to such an extent that 64% of residents that previously had access to passenger rail services have now lost it.

“Today, only 36% of residents still have access to a working train station in the ward where they live ... As is the case with load-shedding and policing, there is simply no way that the national ANC government will ever be able to restore Cape Town’s train service to full capacity, never mind expanding it to build a truly modern and integrated public transport system,” Hill-Lewis said.

The DA-led city council has long been calling on the government to allow it to manage rail services, saying that under its plan Metrorail would continue to provide the transport service, while the metro would maintain and operate the infrastructure.

But discussions have so far come to nothing with the state raising concerns about the funding model.

In 2019 then transport minister Blade Nzimande said in a written reply to questions in parliament Cape Town had been requested to demonstrate that it will be able to fund the functions, on the basis of no guaranteed funding from the national department of transport.

Hill-Lewis said his administration will engage private sector partners to prepare for a future rail system run through private concessions. “The government has clearly started to realise that it is running out of money and simply does not have the ability to manage passenger rail ... that is why we have already seen Transnet starting to talk about private sector involvement.”