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TimesLIVE reports that Western Cape community safety MEC Albert Fritz on Thursday welcomed the findings of the province’s police ombudsman that “Saps is unable to prevent the vandalism of Metrorail trains”.
Fritz also noted that no conviction had been recorded yet for the burning of trains in the province, nor any motive. More than 60% of commuter trains have been torched in Cape Town since 2015 — reducing the fleet from more than 90 trains to 32 by January — and leaving passengers stranded and feeling unsafe. Following a complaint, ombudsman Major-Gen Johan Brand investigated the inability of Saps “to prevent, investigate and to arrest alleged perpetrators of the reported train burning incidents properly”. He substantiated the complaint. Poll results show that 88.9% of respondents either sometimes or never saw police on Metrorail trains or at stations and 70.9% of respondents felt unsafe on trains or at stations. Fritz noted that when the railway police were integrated into the SA Police Service (Saps), the railway lost 3,190 permanent members and 2,800 reservists because of “sustained pressure on limited policing resources at the time. “The question of railway safety is all the more important as Prasa [the Passenger Rail Agency of SA] prepares to resume some of its services on July 1,” he pointed out. The Western Cape Saps should implement appropriate steps to address the inefficiencies highlighted in the report, Brand recommended.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Claire Keeton at TimesLIVE
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