Cape Town - The portfolio committee on transport on day came out in defence of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) after the entity was publicly slated when its Shosholoza Meyl trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town was forced to halt in Wellington at the weekend due to vandalised infrastructure.
Committee chairperson Mina Lesoma said the committee would not do “running commentary” on the incident, while Prasa would instead account to Parliament and provide a briefing of its challenges.
“It is odd that some leaders will just dismiss challenges that they know are there as a PR exercise and, without reason or cause, even blame it on the incompetence of hard-working officials.
“Prasa had been invited to Parliament to both the portfolio committee on Transport and the standing committee on public accounts on more than four occasions this year.
“The people who criticise the efforts will never ride a train in their lifetime.
“Theirs is to follow train journeys on social media. Sadly, that is not how Parliament and the government work gets done.
“We will follow the established accountability protocols and understand the extent of the challenge,” Lesoma said.
Commuters were forced to complete the journey using coaches when the train stopped running last Friday.
The DA had condemned the incident as a reflection of the “ANC government’s incompetence and lack of commitment to resolving critical issues in the rail sector”.
This while the EFF labelled the incident as a “perennial failure” due to the collapse of Prasa.
The red berets have threatened legal action against Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga.
“These technical issues were said to be due to the theft of overhead cables; however, this is unacceptable as the Railway Safety Regulator requires a line test before each trip,” the EFF said in a statement.
Lesoma said it was for these reasons that the committee had prioritised fixing Prasa, in line with an observation made in the State Capture Commission report.
The committee said it would begin its oversight work in 2024 with a visit to road projects in rural Matatiele, Eastern Cape.