CAPE TOWN TRAINS BURNING : URBAN TERRORISM DESTROYING OUR RAIL NETWORK WHILE GOVERNMENTS FIDDLE

The Cape Town regional commuter rail service suffered another set-back this weekend with another train burning.

The City’s busiest rail line – servicing Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain – has been rendered inoperable after a sustained and well-orchestrated campaign by sinister forces eventually destroyed the trains sets and disabled the signalling system. 

PRASA reports that this line will be inoperable until the end of the year – displacing thousands of commuters onto the road network – at great expense to both the commuter and to our road capacity.

Now it appears that these sinister forces have moved onto the Northern Line.  The next busiest service.

Our governments need to see the pattern of sustained attacks on this critical infrastructure and service for what it is: urban terrorism; and they need to act with the urgency these attacks demand using the agencies trained to deal with such activities.

We cannot allow our governments to wring their hands hopelessly while the backbone of public transport is systematically destroyed.

There are state security agencies and enforcement units within SAPS that are trained to deal with the  planning and execution of these kinds of attacks.  Its about time they were called on to bring this to an end.

The National Minister of Transport must urgently engage with the Minister of State Security and the Minister of Police and devise a plan of action to apprehend those who will destroy our trains and wreak havoc on our residents.

Mayor Dan Plato must immediately take steps to get the MyCiTi N2 Express service to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain reinstated.  This will bring some alleviation to the transport crisis we are in.

Statement issued by Brett Herron, Western Cape MPP and Good Secretary General, 26 January 2020