Africa-Press – South-Africa. On 15 October 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a “reconstruction and recovery plan to drive growth that is inclusive and transformative”.
He said the plan’s objectives were clear: to create jobs to reindustrialise the economy, to accelerate economic reforms to unlock investment and growth, to fight crime and corruption, and to improve the capability of the state.
Almost three years later, the country’s economic growth is still slow, unemployment remains high, crime levels haven’t subsided, and the state’s capability remains questionable at best, as illustrated by continuing load shedding.
Yet, the Presidency and Treasury unit tasked with implementing the structural reforms for the reconstruction and recovery plan, Operation Vulindlela, claims “progress in the implementation of priority structural reforms has gathered pace”.
“Over 70% of OV reforms have now either been completed or are on track to be finalised within the next year. A minority of reforms – those in the municipal space and the additional reforms that Operation Vulindlela has taken on in the last year – will run beyond the 2023/2024 fiscal year,” reads Operation Vulindlela’s progress update for the second quarter of 2023.
The report also touches on the devolution of passenger rail functions – something that the DA-governed Western Cape and City of Cape Town have been advocating for amid doublespeak from the national government.
“In keeping with its commitment to devolve passenger rail functions, the Department of Transport has convened a national steering committee to engage with all relevant stakeholders and develop a devolution strategy. The steering committee consists of representatives from the department, from local and provincial government, SALGA, PRASA and the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA), with the goal of finalising a Devolution Strategy for Urban Commuter Rail.
“Following engagement with the steering committee, the target date for completion of the Devolution Strategy is March 2024,” reads the report.
In May, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga denied that there is a process under way to devolve the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) to the City of Cape Town.
Earlier this month, during a violent and crippling taxi strike in the Western Cape, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis wrote to Ramaphosa to urge him to convene the “joint working committee on passenger rail devolution”.
“We have urged the president to respond by 31 August to our request for a joint working committee on passenger rail devolution, failing which, we will resort to intergovernmental dispute mediation,” the mayor warned.
However, the Presidency said it didn’t respond to threats.
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