The City of Cape Town is preparing to declare an intergovernmental dispute against the national government and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) if President Cyril Ramaphosa does not respond to a request to create a joint working committee on rail devolution by the 31st of August.
Devolving the local rail system will mean transferring oversight of the area’s train network to the city council, with the stated intention of improving the quality of the service.
This is according to a statement released by Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis this week, following numerous attempts between the City and Prasa to negotiate an agreement over the region’s Metrorail services.
A crucial public service
Six months ago, Cape Town entered discussions with the state-run Prasa and formed a Service Legal Agreement (SLA) with the primary goal of rail devolution.
However, the rail organization later announced that it would not commit to a binding SLA due to “the current state of rail services,” resulting in Cape Town’s mayoral committee initiating a formal dispute to enforce the legal obligation.
Prasa has not provided any additional comments on the matter, however the Transport Minister previously announced in May that they were not in the process of devolving, and that Prasa was “busy building railway services in the Western Cape,” according to Ground Up.
This breakdown between the two parties resulted in the city’s Metrorail services being shut down in early August at the same time that the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) was engaged in an eight-day strike over the enforcement of vehicle impound laws in the Western Cape.
“The lack of a functional passenger rail system was severely felt in Cape Town during the recent violent minibus-taxi stay away, with thousands of commuters forced to walk as far as 30km to get home due to the strike called in the middle of a working day,” said Hill-Lewis.
Cape Town has been trying to devolve (transfer responsibility) several of the metro’s services for several years, arguing that it is better equipped to provide these services, according to BusinessTech.
An ongoing Rail Feasibility Study found that an efficient passenger rail network could save residents, particularly lower-income households, up to R932 million per year and could provide employment for over 51,000 citizens and an annual revenue stream of R11 billion for the local economy.
According to the city’s integrated transport plan, of the 33% of Cape Town commuters who currently rely on public transport, 67% use minibus taxis while only 6% use trains. The remaining 27% take bus services such as Golden Arrow or MiCiTi.
The 6% of commuters who take trains represents a 95% decline in rail usage since 2012, according to BusinessLive.
“The minibus-taxi stay away has once again demonstrated the urgent need for a safe, affordable passenger rail system, especially for lower-income communities,” said the city’s mayor.
“Passenger rail must be the backbone of our network, but it has all but collapsed while Prasa refuses to be held accountable for improving service levels to the public. All spheres of government have a duty to fix this situation without delay.”
Cape Town’s leadership has therefore posted a deadline of 31 August for Prasa to form a joint working committee to begin the process of devolving its rail services, else it will launch an intergovernmental dispute against the national government.
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