Officials must act on Metrorail

DEAR Minister Joe Maswanganyi and Deputy Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga. On Saturday January 13, 2018 a 19-year-old youth jumped out of a moving train between Lakeside and False Bay to escape a man armed with a knife. He fell to his death. I read this tragic story this morning.

Week after week, horrific details emerge regarding the unending disaster that is Metrorail. In spite of all the reported deaths, injuries, delays and dangers, nothing visible is being done to rectify the situation. Ordinary working-class people are suffering enormously because of the ineptitude of the major role-players.

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, as you know, is heading to Davos to inform captains of industry that South Africa is open for business. Is he going to be speaking the truth when the situation with Metrorail is so dysfunctional and chaotic? What will he say if they want to know about the efficacy and efficiency of public transport, and rail transport in particular?

You are both very well aware of how gridlocked the city’s roads have become, because you travel month after month on those very roads. The more rail fails, the more the pressure on our roads increases. It is therefore within your personal knowledge that the situation has become untenable.

Furthermore, it is a drag on economic growth. The billion-rand question, therefore, is what have the two of you been doing to resolve this problem that is afflicting city commuters from historically disadvantaged areas? After all, this is the responsibility you are charged with in the government.

Is this death of a teenager not weighing heavily on your minds? Do you want to see more deaths and do you want to see the terminally ill Metrorail itself collapse and die before acting decisively?

As a councillor, I have been calling for both the City of Cape Town and private enterprise to be given co-responsibility to revive Metrorail and to make rail a transport mode of choice, across all occupations.

The people of Cape Town, and especially those who live in apartheid-created dormitories, rely on affordable and efficient transport to put bread on their table.

They are waiting to hear what the two of you are going to be doing, and how soon. They are at their wits’ end, and so are we as councillors.

PICTURE: CITY CAPE TOWN DEADLY ESCAPE: A youth fell to his death after jumping off a moving train between False Bay and Lakeside stations. It appears he was being robbed and tried to escape. The transport minister and his deputy are urged to address the Metrorail crisis.