The new Hercules needed to clean the Augean PRASA stable
Zolani Matthews, the latest chief executive of the Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa) faces a task as daunting as that faced by Hercules.
Scholars of classical mythology will recall that Hercules was the mythical strong man ordered to clean enormous heaps of manure from the Royal Augean Stables which held 3,000 oxen, and which had not been cleaned for 30 years.
Hercules eventually diverted a river to wash them clean. Mr Mathews does not have such a quick-fix option. But no doubt fixing Prasa needs something just as heroic as the exertions of Hercules.
Vandalism of rail infrastructure from copper cable to the steel rail lines is the least of it. Comprising the metaphorical ordure are land invasions of the tracks themselves; the flourishing business of supplying shack-building materials and claiming rent from the occupants on land they do not own is another twist in the anarchic spiral; And, not to forget the gargantuan mess within the structures of Prasa itself – politely described as a “lack of capacity” instead of the “hotbed of corruption” it has become.
Parliament’s Transport Oversight Committee told Mr Mathews that it was “No time for velvet gloves” – to which every employer in the private sector in Cape Town can only respond with hearty approval.