The African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape has welcomed newly appointed transport minister Fikile Mbalula’s visit to Cape Town to see the challenges the province is grappling with in commuter rail services.

Mbalula experienced for himself the daily frustrations that commuters face in Cape Town when his train was delayed for a long time, forcing him to eventually take Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) bus in order to complete his full planned trip on Tuesday morning.

Mbalula was meant to travel by train from Chris Hani station in Khayelitsha township to Langa station, but could not complete the trip due to an incident at Nyanga station.

The national ruling ANC is the opposition party in the Western Cape, which is run by the Democratic Alliance, itself the main opposition on a national scale.

"The ANC believes this is just one of the many visits that the minister will continue to make to the province," the party's provincial shadow member of the executive council (MEC) for transport and public works Lulama Mvimbi said. 

Mvimbi said Prasa faced many complex problems and challenges including the safety and security of rail commuters.

He said this had led to the establishment of the Rail Enforcement Unit (REU), a partnership between the national department of transport, through Prasa, as well as the Western Cape government, and the provincial capital Cape Town.

"It is in the interest of all parties involved to co-operate constructively for the success of the project without apportioning blame to each other," Mvimbi said. 

"The cooperation between all parties involved will also promote good intergovernmental relations and advance the notion of co-operative governance."

Mbalula's visit had enabled him to experience the day-to-day problems faced by rail commuters as well as to interact directly with those passengers and other stakeholders in the public transport industry, Mvimbi added.

Western Cape premier Alan Winde however said the provincial government was disappointed that Mbalula did not seek to engage the provincial leadership during his visit.

"The train system in the Western Cape is entirely dysfunctional and I think it's important that minister Fikile Mbalula experienced first-hand what people go through every day," he said in a statement.

"Minister Mbalula, however, will go back to being driven in his ministerial vehicle, while this afternoon, and tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future, commuters will likely experience similar delays again. We need Minister Mbalula to apply his trademark energy to fixing this problem with urgency."

Transport and public works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela echoed Winde’s sentiments, saying he was surprised to see via social media platform Twitter that Mbalula was coming to the Western Cape without even a courtesy call to alert him.