Question NW435 to the Minister of Transport
13 March 2019 - NW435
Hunsinger, Mr CH to ask the Minister of Transport
(a) What measures have been put in place to deal with vandalism and destruction of rail infrastructure in each province, (b) on what date were the measures put in place in each case, (c)(i) what processes, procedures and mechanisms are in place to ensure that the measures are effective and (ii) how is this measured in each case and (d)(i) what is being planned in future in this regard and (ii) what are the time frames in this regard?
Reply:
a) In each region, security personnel are deployed to combat theft and vandalism.
In the four regions a total compliment of 3,060 protective service personnel have been deployed, supported by 3,578 external security service providers. In Cape Town, further reinforcement in the form of drones and forensic support have been added as part of a pilot project. This has proven successful and plans are afoot to roll out this project to Gauteng in the next financial year. Furthermore, in Cape Town, PRASA and the City of Cape Town have entered into a partnership to provide an additional 100 security personnel which is deployed in high risk areas. This is proving very effective. The initiative is funded by the City and PRASA.
b) The deployment of security personnel (in house and external) has been in place for a long time. The internal PRASA security and external service providers have been in place for over ten years. Security deployments are reviewed and re-assigned on a case by basis and all deployments are informed by security risks as they arise.
c) (i) All security deployments are reviewed monthly to evaluate effectiveness and the required changes effected to combat crime.
(ii) The measures are dependent on the security risks associated with the specific area.
d) (i) Security fencing, CCTV, alarms, fire detection and intrusion detection for all substations, relay rooms and high sites are being planned. Other projects include the corridor fencing and corridor monitoring that will significantly enhance the protection of assets.
(ii) Some projects, such as corridor fencing, are being rolled out already, the rest will be roll out during the 2019/20 to 2021/22 MTEF period.