Revival of Prasa should continue under new incoming administration
We need to move goods to rail in an attempt to lessen the burden on our public roads
The stabilisation of entities under the transport portfolio is essential and vital for economic growth, and the incoming parliamentary committee should vociferously continue the work of reviving the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).
That work should chiefly be centred around aggressively reviving Prasa’s infrastructure and train operations on profitable lanes like the Central Line (Cape Flats) and the Mabopane Rail Corridor (Gauteng).
In December, government successfully started moving 891 people from an informal settlement on the Central Line, a feat not generally covered in the news media. This was one giant leap for the revival of Prasa.
Yes, Prasa is the most troubled entity, but a situation where putting in rail tracks and overhead cables is delayed must not occur, even as we transit to the next administration of parliament and government term.
Prasa is responsible for the operation of passenger trains that link millions of poor South Africans with economic hubs and job opportunities. The entity relies on reliable electricity supply; so was massively affected by load shedding.
As trains continually failed to arrive on time, building up to the elections in 2019, people started vandalising the infrastructure. The outdated signalling equipment suffered, accidents were reported and carriages were burnt in despicable acts of selfishness and incivility.
The demise of Prasa gradually and systematically ensued. It gained momentum and became rapid. We lost stations, rail tracks and eventually operational capability. The result was the complete loss of income, customers and several carriages on vital routes.
When operations were affected, people found it convenient to occupy rail and put housing structures in the middle of rail tracks. Such a situation should not arise again while the country waits for revival of the service.
Inertia will be a sin, given the efforts of the portfolio committee on transport, other oversight bodies and the fact that activists like Loyiso Nkohla have died pleading and encouraging communities to move so trains could run once more on the Central Line.
The importance of rail is not only about the movement of passengers, but goods. We need to move goods to rail to lessen the burden on public roads. That work is going to be a long and hard but will in the end benefit South Africans, in line with the government’s job-creation efforts and safe, reliable and affordable public transport system. In that regard, the committee processed various bills intended to build a functional portfolio.
The portfolio committee on transport, which I led as chairperson, needs to be commended. As we speak, new hi-tech trains were launched in Cape Town this week. The illegal land invasions to build shacks on railway lines and open spaces, especially during Covid, is being resolved.
Looking back, the overall performance of the entities in the portfolio is satisfactory but could have been better.
Entities should fulfil their mandate, which is essentially and fundamentally to make SA work and contribute meaningfully to development and job creation. Linking people with economic opportunities remains the essence of these entities and the incoming committee should aggressively play the oversight role on these.
The SA National Roads Agency Limited should be a model for all government entities in terms of its project output, governance, profitability and so on. Fundamental to the lives of victims of road accidents is the Road Accident Fund, whose performance needed to significantly improve.
The aviation space remains the safest in the world and is effectively and competently operated by professionals. The SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa), Cross Border Road Transport Agency, and Rail Safety Regulator also get a pass mark for the work they have done.
As we wrap up this parliamentary term, as a steward of the ship, it’s a pass mark for transport portfolio entities, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
■ Lesoma is chairperson of the portfolio committee transport