The Portfolio Committee on Transport will seek to meet its counterparts in Public Enterprises with a view to resolve matters pertaining to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and Transnet.
Prasa together with the Road Accident Fund (RAF) and the Cross Border Road Traffic Agency came before the Committee in Parliament to present their annual performance and strategic plans as part of the budget review process.
Prasa told the Committee that it still paid an annual amount of about R800 million for operating on South Africa’s rail network. The Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, said she failed to understand why a government entity would pay another government entity to operate on infrastructure it does not even own.
“This infrastructure belongs to the people of South Africa. Whatever we do, it needs to benefit the people. The Committee will have to meet with our colleagues in Public Enterprises to see how we can resolve this matter, as it is a policy matter,” Ms Magadzi said.
Prasa’s Chief Executive for Strategy, Dr Sipho Sithole, said that the entity is hoping to achieve 80% customer satisfaction by 2020 and that it should be generating revenue of up to a billion rand by that time.
“We are modernising the rail system and we are improving Prasa assets. We also want to make sure that the signalling system is in good working order,” Dr Sithole said.
He highlighted vandalism of infrastructure, including the burning of trains, as a significant challenge. It would be extremely unfortunate if the new fleet of coaches unveiled recently in Pretoria by President Jacob Zuma and the Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Maswanganyi, were vandalised. “This is a societal problem. We need help in addressing this lawlessness,” he said.
Members of the Committee had questions for Prasa about various subjects, including passenger safety, cleanliness and the efficiency of the service, the budget for legal services, ongoing forensic investigations, leadership stability and labour issues.
Prasa was also asked to look into the matter of dismissed workers who had brought the case to the attention of the Committee. Prasa assured the Committee that its acting Group Chief Executive Officer was investigating.
Sibongile Maputi
10 May 2017
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