DA challenges Mbalula to get off Twitter to go and see SA’s gutted train stations

14 May 2021

The DA challenges the Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, to visit Cape Town’s gutted central train line which has been completely destroyed due to the inefficiencies and the lack of proper oversight by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

Together with my colleagues, Alderman Felicity Purchase, Cllr Angus Mckenzie, Alexandra Abrahams MP, and Cllr Simon Liell-Cock, I was able to assess the true extent of the decay of Cape Town’s central line today. The DA conducted an oversight inspection to the Netreg Train Station in Kalksteenfontein, Cape Town. What was once a busy hub for transportation, is now an empty shell completely destroyed by vandalism, cable theft and neglect. Netreg is just one example of the deterioration of the City and the country’s railway infrastructure.

The cost of repairing the damage inflected on the country’s rail infrastructure will no doubt cost the government billions or Rands. These are billions of Rands that could have been avoided had South Africa’s rail services been in the hands of a capable State.  The blame must be laid squarely at the feet of the ANC government for its complete mismanagement of PRASA and South Africa’s train services.

The DA therefore challenges Mbalula to get off Twitter to go see South Africa’s gutted train stations and rail infrastructure. He must go see for himself how he and his party have hamstrung South Africa’s rail commuters and workers.

Issued by Chris Hunsinger, DA Shadow Minister of Transport, 14 May 2021