MANIFESTOS UNPACKED: Parties make election promises on fixing the rail system, but the detail is threadbare By Suné Payne SunePayne
South Africa’s rail service has been crippled by arson and vandalism over the past three years, which saw 175 trains burnt between 2015 and 2017. Commuters have been left frustrated by train delays, trains simply not arriving, overcrowding, and the general lack of safety.
With almost a month left before the national and provincial elections, rail has become a hot-button political topic. Major parties, particularly those on the trail in the Western Cape, have campaigned on the claim that they will “fix the rail service”. It remains to be seen how much is electioneering and what can actually be delivered.It’s a month before the elections. I know exactly what they’re doing and I’m not buying it,” said Mandy-Lynn Mott, a rail commuter from Kenilworth, Cape Town.
Previously, she could catch a train at 7.15am and arrive in the CBD 15 minutes later. Mott now has to be at the station at 6am to arrive in town at 6.30am on a good travelling day. On bad days, she arrives more than two hours later, at 8.40am. Bad days are often caused by the system running on manual authorisation, which results in slower trains.Mott questioned why the rail system was only being addressed now.
Rail is a key election issue with the governing party in the Western Cape, the Democratic Alliance . The party’s manifesto has called for rail to be devolved from its current national mandate to a provincial one.it is politicking. #UniteBehind supports the devolution of the commuter rail system eventually”.
The DA’s call for rail to be a provincial mandate has come under the scrutiny of Daily Maverick’s Sanity Check. Read that pieceHowever, the ANC, which may be in a position to change the country’s Constitution to allow for the devolution of the rail service, has only the following to say about rail in its 2019 manifesto:Invest in rail infrastructure to ensure it is safe, reliable and integrated with other modes of public transport. Rail must be the backbone of our public transport system.
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