Risks if unsafe Prasa keeps going – union

Antoine e Slabbert

weekly basis by frustrated passengers who just want to get to their destination.

Prasa’s previous safety permit expired on Tuesday.

RSR spokesperson Madelein Williams confirmed to Moneyweb Prasa is not allowed to operate without such a permit and is currently operating in contravention of the National Railway Safety Regulator Act.

Prasa spokesperson Nana Zenani said the agency would issue a statement about the matter.

The RSR said Prasa’s previous permit was already issued with special conditions. Prasa, however, failed to meet the conditions.

The permits are valid for a year and when Prasa issued an application for renewal, the RSR was not satisfied that the identified issues are being adequately addressed.

Williams could not expand on the nature of these issues.

“The RSR is of the opinion that Prasa cannot demonstrate to the regulator that it has the ability, commitment and resources to properly assess and effectively control the risks to assets and safety of its customers, staff, contractors, visitors and others who may be affected by its railway operations”, the regulator said in a statement.

Williams said the RSR asked Prasa for further submissions, but only received that late on Tuesday, after the set deadline. The RSR team was working through the submission and, if found to be in order, it could issue a new permit within about 48 hours.

According to Carstens, Untu members in all regions indicated Prasa was still operating.

This, she said, exposed passengers and staff to great insurance risk, should something go wrong.

Carstens said Untu’s legal representatives would send a letter to Prasa to demand it stops all operations until outstanding safety issues have been addressed and a valid permit has been issued.

She said Prasa transported millions of passengers daily. In the Western Cape, which is not even the biggest region, it transported about 1.2 million passengers daily.

The situation could also be explosive if Prasa operations were immediately stopped and commuters are left stranded.

Frustrated commuters have often reverted to violence and recently, multiple train carriages were set alight in Cape Town,, which resulted in millions of rands of damage.