Question NW65 to the Minister of Transport
28 June 2021 - NW65
Sithole, Mr KP to ask the Minister of Transport
(1)What are the full relevant details of the damage suffered by Metrorail due to (a) theft and (b) vandalism in each (i) province, (ii) district and (iii) local municipality to date; (2) what measures are in place to ensure the safety of all passengers at all times given all that has transpired in the past year including, but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic?
Reply:
1. PRASA’s business model does not devolve the operation of train services to a district or local municipality level in terms of the municipal demarcations framework but is based on a corridor approach managed at a Regional (Provincial) level. Therefore, the assessment of damages suffered will follow a corridor based model.
Thus, the full relevant details of the damages suffered by Metrorail due to (a) theft, (b) vandalism in (i) each (Region) province, to date are listed in the tables below.
Narrative for Crimes Related Incidents – 2019/2020
Narrative for Crimes Related Incidents – 2020/2021
2. The measures which are in place to ensure the safety of all passengers at all times is:
- Insourcing of security services to replace irregular contracts that were terminated in 2020;
- Joint operations with South African Police Services within the rail operational tunnel as well as disruptive operations at second-hand dealers to arrest those that buy stolen goods;
- Commuter Policing Forum deployment in home-based (township) stations;
- Increased train patrols on identified problematic trains in effort to arrest perpetrators;
- Line-based closures / stop-and-search with South African Police Service to search for stolen property that is being transported by train; and
- Commuter Forum engagement to share intelligence information that may assist in improving commuter experience.