News24 reports that despite 6,638 security personnel working in four regions across the country, 24 trains and 289 coaches were vandalised or were subject to theft between October 2018 and February 2019.  

This emerged last week in responses by Minister of Transport Blade Nzimande to parliamentary questions.  The minister said most of the vandalism was theft of copper and aluminium train parts, which had a high monetary value at scrap dealers, while another challenge was “stone throwing at trains en-route on certain corridors".  Nzimande also said the government planned to add 2,284 new coaches in Gauteng, 1,835 in the Western Cape, 938 in KwaZulu-Natal and 228 in the Eastern Cape to ensure that Metrorail operated at "optimum capacity".  In addition, 1,512 coaches were planned for expansion of the network over the longer term.  Nzimande indicated that in the four named regions "a total complement of 3,060 protective service personnel have been deployed, supported by 3,578 external security service providers".  In Cape Town, where a spate of train attacks and arson has bedevilled the city's commuters, "further reinforcement in the form of drones and forensic support have been added as part of a pilot project".  The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) and the City of Cape Town have also entered into a partnership to provide additional security personnel in high-risk areas.  Nzimande said that to bolster security in the future, his department planned to roll out security fencing, CCTV, alarms, fire detection and intrusion detection for all substations.

• Read the full original of Ethan van Diemen’s report on the above at News24

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