Press Statement dated 31 July 2019
A Judge of the Gauteng North High Court will continue to oversee and manage the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) compliance to special safety requirements imposed on it by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR).
Judge Cassim Sardiwalla will continue to meet regularly with the legal representatives from both the RSR, Prasa and the Department of Transport on behalf of the Minister of Transport, until the parties are due back in court on 26 February 2020.
Judge Sardiwalla extended the period of his oversight of Prasa after the ailing state-owned enterprise (SOE) failed to adhere to the previsions of his initial order granted against Prasa and the Minister on 12 October last year.
According to Steve Harris, General Secretary of the United National Transport Union (UNTU), who represents the majority of employees working for Prasa, the passenger rail operator where unable to fill all its critical vacancies in line with the plan it submitted to the court, struggled to do proper and timeous procurement of spares required for critical maintenance intervention projects, did not manage to update its interface agreement with Transnet and could not improve on its workload planning.
Despite this, Prasa did manage to convince the RSR to grant it a special safety operating permit subjected to strict conditions with reference to amongst other the ongoing manual authorisation of trains due to Prasa’s inability to finalise the modernisation of the signalling system nationwide.
Harris says the details of the rest of the RSR’s provision is not yet known. The RSR has not yet send UNTU a copy of the special licence.
According to UNTU’s members they could feel no relief to the ongoing hellish working conditions they endure by this afternoon, 31 July 2019.
“The number of trains available to run a proper service continues to decrease. In Braamfontein in Johannesburg their where 86 train sets, but now there are only 57 train sets. In Wolmerton’ in Pretoria there where 34 train sets, but now there is only seven train sets.
“The situation in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal is just as bad. Of the 91 train sets required, only 51 are in service. Due to the overcrowding, commuters are falling off the trains. I can’t believe the RSR calls this an improvement,” says a UNTU member.
On 26 July 2019 UNTU and its affiliated federation, the Federation of Trade Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), marched in Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town, to hand over memorandums directed at President Cyril Ramaphosa personally.
The Union demanded seven actions from the President that would bring immediate relief to UNTU members working in direct contravention of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and would bring safe and reliable train transport, the cheapest form of public transport, to millions of commuters. (Find attached).
Harris says the Union welcomes the various suggestions to improve the passenger rail service that Minister Fikile Mbalula made over the last month. “They are however long-term solutions and would not bring about the immediate relief that is needed for our members and commuters,” says Harris.
Issued on behalf of United National Transport Union (UNTU) by Sonja Carstens, Media and Liaison Officer