Africa-Press – South-Africa. Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says the commuter rail agency won’t be able to protect trains and other infrastructure “like the old railway system”.
Additionally, Mbalula told Parliament on Tuesday that theft of rail infrastructure was the biggest problem faced by the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).
He said:
Mbalula briefed the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Prasa’s state of affairs following an oversight by the committee earlier this year.
“The network and critical infrastructure should be classified as a National Key Point. The collaboration with law enforcement agencies is intended to ensure that these assets receive maximum protection. This is a matter that we have had to place before the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS),” Mbalula said.
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Mbalula said cancelling the security contracts with private companies opened the door for vandalism.
“The security contracts that were cancelled created a difficult situation in terms of new procurement. Vandalism at Prasa is an orchestrated and well-planned operation. There is a syndicate operation, and it has been proved over time. They steal copper cables, melt them in laboratories in townships and ship them out to Mozambique then to East Asia,” he said.
Mbalula also said syndicates worked with some Prasa employees.
“Sometime back, we busted this operation with Prasa security in Gauteng. I went to see for myself this operation. The most important thing what we are looking at is to consider the law in relation to scrap metal. At present we are open, and those who are undertaking it, be it at Eskom or where else they are stealing, we can’t prosecute in law.
“When you get to the scrap metal area, you will realise that this syndicate is very big and can’t just say this copper comes from Prasa or from Eskom. We are dealing with organised criminal syndicates, and their operations are the same. They collect through small units in the townships that feed into bigger companies,” he said.
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He said the vandalism of train stations and other infrastructure happened in broad daylight at times.
He said:
In his presentation to Scopa, Mbalula said Prasa planned to re-open several rail corridors before the end of March.
This included several lines in Cape Town and the “walling” (perimeter fencing) of the Mabopane (Gauteng) and Central Line (Western Cape) corridor.
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