PRETORIA 24 JUNE 2002
Executive Mayor of Tshwane, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa
The Bishop of Pretoria: Rt. Rev. Dr Jo Seoka
MEC for Transport in Gauteng: Mr. Khabisi Mosunkutu
Chairperson of the SA Rail Commuter Corporation, Mr. Eddie Lekota
Acting Chief Executive Officer SARCC: Ben Van der Ross
Managing Director Intersite Property Management Services, Jack Prentice
Chief Executive Officer of Metrorail: Honey Mateya
Representatives of Commuter Fora and Trade Unions
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen
I thank the organizers for bringing us all together at this station and for organizing this wonderful event. I thank you all for coming. I am glad there are so many people from our Local Communities present here today. This station belongs to you. It belongs to the people of South Africa, Government, Metrorail, SARCC-all of us-are Trustees acting on behalf of the people. As trustees we have now come back to you 16 months after the big fire-to hand the station back to you fully restored at a cost of R20 million.
Allow me to convey special thanks to Intersite, its M.D. Jack Prentice, the SARCC, the architects, quantity surveyors, mechanical, structural and electrical engineers - and indeed all the workers in the project. I thank them because they made this restoration possible.
The station building is also a national monument. All restoration work including the materials used comply with the standards laid down by the South African Heritage Resources Agency. The aim was to complete the restoration by December 2001. You will recall that the fire took place on the 19 February 2001. There were many technical and logistic complications. All of these were successfully overcome so that the whole team, Intersite, SARCC, Metrorail the Commuter Fora and Government - National Provincial and Local - can stand before you today and say to you "Here it is, it is yours, for your use. Please look after it"
Please let me return to the day of the fire 19 February 2001. It was a sad day for you and all of us. The question is: What lessons have we learnt from that experience. I would say that the first lesson is that we must not take our people for granted. We must treat our people as human beings, as citizens whose dignity must be respected. On that day, 19 February 2001, an estimated 6 000 people had been waiting a long time for train transport to take them home. There was no train and there was no explanation. People became restless and angry. Still no explanation. No communication. No information. I think that was wrong. People should have been told what the problem was. Even though government was not directly responsible, I want to apologise to you and all our train users for this failure. The lesson we have learnt is that commuters must be consulted and commuters must be kept informed of any problem. Sometimes, something happens which forces the operator, Metrorail, to temporarily stop a service or to delay a train. When for example a fault develops in the signalling system or copper cables are stolen or damaged. Then in the interest of Safety the operator temporarily stops a service or delays a train to prevent accidents and to save lives but commuters must be told what is happening. There must be an announcement. On that day we failed. I know that Metrorail at stations are kept informed if there is any problem or delay.
I must say to the credit of Metrorail that it has helped to set up Commuter Fora. Here in Gauteng there are many Commuter Fora. MEC Mosunkutu interacts with them whenever necessary. These Fora have existed for a long time. They meet and they interact with Metrorail. This interaction is important and must be regular because that is our line of consultation on all relevant issues. I thank the Commuter Fora and also the South African Commuter Organisation. You are the voice of the commuters and you must be consulted on all important issues. At the same time all of us must condemn the setting alight of the station.
We must condemn the setting alight of trains. Violence in any form cannot be tolerated and all of us must act to ensure that such criminal acts do not happen again. We know that it is small group out of the 6000 commuters who turned violent and set about to burn down the station. The overwhelming majority on that station were not a party to setting fire to the station building. I know that the police arrested a number of people who have faced serious charges in court.
There are two other things which we must do together arising out of that experience on 19 February 2001. The first is we must educate our people that public property must be respected and we must respect other people. The second is we must isolate wrongdoers and take action against them - so that everyone will know that you cannot just commit a crime and get away with it. Today as we launch the restored Pretoria station and officially re-open it for public use, you will notice that the team did much more than just restore the station. There are other improvements which have been effected. There are better ticket offices, more information kiosks, new Metrorail offices and a redesigned Mainline Passenger Services facility have been added. Because we say "People come first" there is a fast food outlet, a coffee shop, a postnet shop, a bakery and a dry cleaner. There is provision for a banking mall with ATM's for passengers.
Then you will also notice that the precinct around the station has been upgraded to provide a safer, more attractive, user-friendly area for commuters. Improved access and parking for Taxis and Bus-coaches have been provided. This makes the precinct more effective from a traffic and passenger point of view. A more formalized area for hawkers and a renewal of the gardens for recreation has also been considered to make things better and more comfortable for our commuters. By the way as you know time is very important and when you rush for your train every minute counts. So the clock tower is important. The clock face is restored and it has a new electronic operating system.
Even the copper copula was polished and the original weathervane, a copper locomotive which fell off way back in 1983 now sits proudly on the top of the tower symbolically completing the restoration project.
I have spent time on these details because I hope we will all develop a pride in a beautiful National Monument which belongs to all of South Africa. Let us be proud of it and let us together respect it and protect it. It is my pleasure to declare the station open.
Thank you once again and enjoy the station