Africa-Press – South-Africa. Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga’s assurance that there was no plan to devolve railway services in the province has angered the City of Cape Town.
In an interview on Tuesday, Chikunga said there was no process to devolve railway services, which was why the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa was building its capacity in the Western Cape.
The minister added that devolution was included in the rail policy, but there were certain conditions to it.
The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to come clean on whether the national government intended to scrap plans to devolve passenger rail to capable metros.
“Minister Chikunga’s anti-devolution comments are working against everything we are trying to achieve. Her comments echo the sentiments of other prominent members of President Ramaphosa’s Cabinet, in direct contradiction of its own approved White Paper on Rail Policy,” he said.
Hill-Lewis added that lower-income households were suffering because they were being denied the basic right of access to the most affordable and efficient mode of transport, namely an efficient and reliable passenger rail service.
He said:
The City has been pushing to take over the management of rail services in the metro.
The mayoral committee member for urban mobility, Rob Quintas, said they were eager to work with national colleagues to re-establish a viable passenger rail service in Cape Town.
“I again invite Minister Chikunga to set aside narrow political interests and to meet with me, so that we can forge a way forward that is to the benefit of our lower-income communities,” he said.
A comment from Chikunga will be added once received.
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