By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has lamented the lack of a functional passenger rail system which was severely felt in the city during the recent taxi strike.
Hill-Lewis called on the president Cyril Ramaphosa to speed up the devolving of rail.
The city has pleaded with the national government on number of occasions to devolve certain national functions to the provinces, arguing that it would be better equipped to deliver services that have fallen short, nationally.
The lack of a functional passenger rail system was severely felt in Cape Town during the recent violent minibus-taxi stayaway, 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,” Hill-Lewis said.
“The minibus-taxi stayaway has once again demonstrated the urgent need for a safe, affordable passenger rail system, especially for lower-income communities. 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.”
Hill-Lewis said that a joint working committee on devolution is important, given the National Transport Director-General’s public commitment to gazetting a Rail Devolution Strategy within 2023.
He said the city wants to provide input to this national strategy and settle plans to devolve rail in Cape Town – however, “requests for a joint committee has been gathering dust on the President’s desk for more than two months now, which is not a situation we are prepared to tolerate”.
In response, Presidency said, “They would rather deal with matters through processes in a constructive manner. The mayor can exercise his prerogative as he sees fit, and we will respond accordingly through due process.
In May 2022, cabinet passed the White Paper on National Rail Policy, which commits to devolving rail to capable metros, and to producing a Rail Devolution Strategy in 2023.
“Up until the latest devolution progress confirmation by the Transport DG, Cabinet’s White Paper commitments have been contradicted by various senior political figures, including the current and former Transport Ministers,” Hill-Lewis said.
He said the city is keenly awaiting a devolution commitment directly from the President, given the dire need for a functional rail system in Cape Town.
The mayor has given a deadline of 31 August for the committee to be set up, failing which an intergovernmental dispute will be declared.