We are inept, says Mbaks about Prasa pillaging
It will cost at least R4 billion to repair the extensive damage to the rail infrastructure, with Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula conceding that it was “ineptness” in running the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) that led to the pillaging.
Though there had been vandalism and theft before, the National Transport Union (Untu) has said the agency’s failure to supply contingency security plans after cancelling contracts in November, exacerbated the situation.
“Some of the enabling points that make it possible for criminals to have a holiday and honeymoon here at Prasa, it is because of our decisions, it is because of our ineptness in terms of running this company of state,” Mbalula said.
These decisions related to the security of Prasa’s assets as the security contracts were cancelled after they were found to be irregular by the then public protector and the auditor-general.
“It meant that if we had to take a decision against those companies, we needed to have a contingency plan to protect the network,” Mbalula said.
He was unveiling government’s integrated Prasa security plan – a concerted approach in partnership with the police, intelligence services, justice department, as well as the National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA).
The minister shared no operational details about the “intelligence-driven” plan but it includes newly recruited 3 100 in-house protection officers and police deployed in hotspots.
He said they were confronted with pictures of the extensively damaged infrastructure daily but were confident this will be in the past.
They now had people directly accountable to Prasa, who would monitor in terms of their capabilities. But Steve Harris, general secretary of Untu, said they were “cautiously optimistic”.
He said they had warned of Prasa’s downfall due to a lack of political will to act against key stakeholders such as the South African Police Service and NPA failing to deliver on their mandates towards the rail industry.
“Citizens are the real owners of Prasa.
“It is commuters who have suffered the most in recent years. Prasa’s modernisation projects are years behind due to vandalism and theft. There is money in the bank for these projects, but Prasa is unable to spend it,” Harris said.
Sonja Carstens, the union’s deputy general secretary, said the breakdown of the passenger rail system was disastrous to the economy in that people who could only afford trains had no choice but to stop working, as other modes of transport were expensive.
“People cannot even afford to go and look for work,” she said.