OFF THE RAILS (AGAIN): Prasa misses debt deadline, Eskom throws the switch and Cape Town’s rush hour turns dystopian By Suné Payne
On Thursday afternoon chaos struck stations across the Western Cape after Eskom shut off Metrorail’s electricity supply during Cape Town’s rush hour. Just as swiftly, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula intervened and power was restored, but this left knock-on delays for commuters coming home from work.
Metrorail estimates that about half a million commuters use rail transport in the greater Cape Town area daily. “The suspension of commuter rail services in the Western Cape immediately affects 289,000 commuters who rely on the Metrorail service during the afternoon peak,” Mbalula said. “Equally, this action represents the deepening of the crisis facing Prasa,” he said.
Mboweni said that “public transport spending is adjusted by R13.2-billion, mainly on allocations to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and the public transport network grant”.“Nobody asked me about my analysis of the Budget. R13-billion has been taken away from me,” he told journalists, adding that “the trade-offs that we make as a country in the light of the dire economic climate must be responsible and not adversely affect the livelihoods of the poor who rely on public transport.
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