Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has “declared war” on acts of vandalism and malicious damage to its rail property, following “callous” acts of vandalism in the Western Cape, PRASA Rail CEO Mosenngwa Mofi said on Wednesday.

According to Mofi, cables were cut at various points in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha on Wednesday morning, severely disrupting rail services. Vandalism had also been reported nationally across all Metrorail regions.

As a result of the frequent vandalism of the Khayelitsha line and central lines in the Western Cape as a whole, he added that PRASA Rail was contemplating suspending operations along these routes.

“Our replacement costs are escalating beyond our control and these are monies we could be using to improve our service and upgrade our assets. Closing the central lines in the Western Cape [and possibly] the Vereeniging line, in Gauteng, may be the only solution to this pandemic,” Mofi cautioned.

Following the Wednesday incidents, PRASA said Metrorail Western Cape regional manager Richard Walker would meet with the MEC for Transport in the Western Cape, the head of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the region and the Western Cape Chamber of Commerce to discuss the incident and its “catastrophic” impact on rail services.

Walker would also formally lay charges against the vandals that had disrupted the train services between Nyanga, Kapteinsklip and Khayelitsha.

“We know who is responsible for the cable theft in the Western Cape. We have issued a reward of R50 000 for the positive identification of the suspects as well as any accurate information regarding this incident,” Mofi commented.

PRASA Rail added that it would, by September, sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which would allow strategic collaboration between the two parties within the framework of the law.

This agreement would see the appointment of four NPA prosecutors solely dedicated to Metrorail cases.

“The prosecutors will use the criminal courts system to undertake prosecuting duties of Metrorail cases. These duties will involve a hands-on approach of the management, sustainability and smooth running of the daily court actions by Metrorail peace officers.

“They will also provide guidance to Metrorail investigation staff in the collection of evidence and preparation of cases, assist SAPS in the formulation of charges for the purpose of opening case dockets, expedite the prosecution process of such cases, ensure the successful prosecution of offenders and assist in creating a climate of order in the rail network,” the agency noted.

Mofi added that the MoU with the NPA demonstrated the seriousness with which PRASA regarded the cable theft and vandalism of its assets, which, he averred, could potentially destabilise the entire economy if commuters could not reach their places of work.

“We are also continuing our partnership with the police through their Rapid Rail Police Unit which works with our security teams on the ground,” Mofi asserted.

PRASA Rail security officers and the Rapid Rail Police Unit held regular interventions, which included daily meetings, crime hotspot analysis at various stations and rail corridors as well as the profiling and assessment of all crime patterns.

The information gathered was then escalated to the weekly and monthly provincial and national railway crime combating forums, which were chaired by the Rapid Rail Police commanders, where joint crime combating action plans and deployments to address crime were finalised, along with the deployment of security officers.

In addition, PRASA Rail had established dedicated Cable Theft units nationally in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and was also working closely with State-owned companies Transnet Freight Rail, Eskom and Telkom.

The criminal action occurred despite South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Sacci’s) Copper Theft Barometer level having contracted to R12.2-million in June from R15.4-million in May, coinciding with a drop in the volumes of copper stolen from 214 t in May to 166 t in June.

“As a result of the theft and vandalism against our system, we have already spent R382-million over the past three years in both direct replacement costs and indirect costs.

“Added to this, is the malicious damage to our property during service delivery protests in the form of either cutting the lines or placing objects on the rail lines, which could potentially derail a train carrying, on average, 2 000 people,” Mofi added.