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President Cyril Ramaphosa gave a personal undertaking to consider the demands of the United National Transport Union (UNTU) about the safety of the passenger rail commuters; its members working for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and finding solution on how to rebuild the ruined state-owned enterprise (SOE).
 
Sonja Carstens, Deputy General Secretary of UNTU, spoke to Ramaphosa while he was greeting guests at Prasa’s launch of the new people’s train at the Cape Town Station in the Western Cape.
 
“I informed the President that UNTU has written him several letters over recent years about the state of Prasa that he has not responded to. The last letter was sent to his office on the 29 January 2019 in which the Union pleaded with the President to immediately step in to save Prasa.
 
“I also informed the President about the Section 77 application the Federation of Trade Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) brought on behalf of UNTU, one of its affiliated unions, at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) that is currently under consider of the Steering Committee. The Presidency is one of the parties sited by Fedusa,” says Carstens.
 
Fedusa is asking Nedlac to allow the Unions affiliated to the Federation, especially UNTU, to embark on protest action in terms of Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) to force Government to implement solutions for Prasa.
 
The parties sited in the application, which includes UNTU, the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR), Prasa, the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Presidency and the Department of Transport, agreed to ask Nedlac to refer certain demands of UNTU to Ramaphosa.
 
UNTU wants Ramaphosa to declare the current situation at Prasa a state of emergency so that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) can be deployed to safeguard platforms and the infrastructure of Prasa that is under siege by criminals and furious mobs of commuters due to Prasa’s daily inability to provide a safe and reliable passenger rail service.
 
The Union also wants Ramaphosa to merge Prasa with Transnet as it was prior to 2006 with the former Transnet Chief Executive Officer, Maria Ramos, took the decision to dismantle the two SOE’s.
 
According to Carstens, Prasa and Transnet will strengthen each other by sharing their expertise. They have always shared the same infrastructure.
 
UNTU also demands that the reporting lines of the RSR and Prasa, who is currently both accountable to the Minister of Transport, gets separated. UNTU would like Prasa to account to the Minister of Public Enterprises like the rest of the SOE’s and would like the RSR as the watchdog of rail safety to account to the Minister of Transport. This will enhance the current questionable independence of the RSR.
 
“The President said he will consider the Unions demands and provide us with feedback. His Chief of Staff immediately asked that the letters must be resend to her,” says Carstens.
 
The two new train sets that was launch today, will now conduct test runs on the railway lines in the Western Cape to see if they are compatible with the platforms, overhead cables and substations. The RSR has not yet agreed that commuters may be transported in the new trains.
 
Only two train drivers of the Western Cape were trained to drive the new trains in Pretoria three months ago. No training has been scheduled for the rest of the train drivers yet.
 
Issued on behalf of UNTU by Carstens