News24 reports that addressing vandalism on trains was "beyond our call of duty", Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) spokesperson Nana Zenani said on Thursday.
"When somebody decides that they are going to come and cut the cables and steal rail clips that hold the rail lines to the ground, it goes beyond our call of duty especially when our own people are then attacked in the process," she said ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa's official launch on Friday of a multibillion-rand train manufacturing plant in Nigel, Gauteng. The plant is scheduled to deliver two new trains by December 2018, an additional nine by March 2019 and an estimated 56 trains over the next two years. According to Prasa, the new trains were a long-term solution in fixing passenger rail overall. A total of 32 coaches were damaged in July as a direct result of arson attacks and 118 were reportedly damaged between 2015 and 2017. "You cannot deter a criminal from doing and acting out what they are thinking. Our job is to operate trains safely and efficiently," Zenani added. Prasa has appealed to the public to report vandalism.
- Read this report by Canny Maphanga in full at News24
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