Passengers hang onto the outside of an over filled train.
19 May 2015
City Press reported on Sunday the names of some people involved in a R51 billion PRASA tender for new train coaches. These included businessmen with close ties to the ANC, such as Thalente Myeni, son of Dudu Myeni who is the chairperson of SAA, as well as Pearl Zuma, a distant cousin of the president.
No evidence of corruption in the deal has surfaced. But investigative reporters will likely want to dig further.
On 19 February GroundUp published two articles Delays, faults and failures: what is to be done about Metrorail? and Commuters must organise to improve Metrorail. The former described how frequent Metrorail faults are and the latter contested that bad management was a key problem facing the company. Metrorail is owned by PRASA.
Commuters crammed together in a Metro class carriage.
New rolling stock is needed, but Metrorail offers no short or medium term plans for rectifying its poor service. It is difficult to see how a R51 billion tender for new carriages offers the solution to our train commuting problems.
Surfing the outside of a train.
