Cape Town rail plan still not finalised, provincial legislature told
Members of the Western Cape provincial legislature were surprised to be told that the much-vaunted plan to shift passenger rail management from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) to the City of Cape Town has not been finalised.
In his presentation to the Standing Committee on Mobility on Friday, PRASA Western Cape regional manager Raymond Maseko said the Service Level Plan (SLP), which marks the first step toward the devolution of passenger rail in the metro to the City in terms of the Land Transport Act of 2009, was 'not yet complete'. Maseko said a meeting was scheduled for 29 May to complete the plan's terms of reference so it could be put into operation.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said in a speech in the city council on 5 December last year that he was 'glad to announce' PRASA had signed the SLP 'to improve Metrorail in the short-term'.
It was later discovered that City manager Lungelo Mbandazayo only signed the SLP on 21 February, with City Mayco member for Urban Mobility Rob Quintas saying 'planning' was 'underway' to implement it.
The SLP has already been years in the making. After delays on PRASA's side, Hill-Lewis in 2023 threatened to declare an intergovernmental dispute, and commuter activist organisation #UniteBehind instituted legal action to compel the parties to sign an agreement.
Most of Maseko's presentation to the committee focused on the loss of rail corridors and all but seven of 124 railway stations in the metro during the Covid lockdown, and the efforts to recover from this.
This included the need to move thousands of people who had built homes on the central line's rail reserve and on the railway line itself in Langa, Philippi, and Nyanga.
He said the first train to Chris Hani station, at the end of the central line, ran on 7 April this year, but it was a single line and they were working on getting the second, dual line operational. The central line branch to Kapteinsklip in Mitchell's Plain still needed to be recovered.
Speaking on the SLP - yet to be implemented, Maseko said the City was the planning authority and would direct PRASA about how many passengers needed to be carried on transport corridors. PRASA would then indicate what it could support and what it would take to meet the target.
For instance, if 20,000 passengers needed to be carried per hour on the southern line, a train would have to run in each direction every three minutes. 'We are not there yet,' said Maseko. (Currently, a train runs every 20 minutes during peak hours.)
He said the SLP also facilitated social housing developments around stations, such as the development at Goodwood station, which also helped protect the station and the surrounding line from vandalism or occupation.
'PRASA has land that can be developed by developers, at Retreat, at other stations, for student accommodation at Unibell (station). None of these are possible without working together with the City of Cape Town.'
Similarly, in planning for seamless intermodal public transport with a single ticketing system, he said PRASA needed to work with the provincial government, which managed public transport interchanges. An SLP with the province was being developed for this purpose.
Addressing the committee after making a formal request to do so, #UniteBehind founder Zackie Achmat said he was 'shocked to hear' that some legal questions on the SLP were still being discussed.
Achmat said the reason there is an SLP is because #UniteBehind had taken PRASA to court. 'We had to beg for it, from both PRASA and the City.' He said their efforts since 2017 were ignored until Hill-Lewis took office at the end of 2021.
He asked why there was no public participation on the SLP and requested that Maseko provide the organisation with PRASA's universal access policy so that people with disabilities could also use the train service with ease.
ANC committee member Benson Ngqentsu also questioned the lack of public participation in the drafting of the SLP.
Ngqentsu said it was 'evident there's an in-principle SLP and its rollout is underway', but the plan was still 'under construction'.
'Have stakeholders in the rail sector been meaningfully engaged? Has labour been engaged? What do the workers say?'
GOOD Party committee member Brett Herron said it seemed the SLP was a secret document. 'I had to search everywhere for it and could not find it online.'
Herron said the plan was not published, and it was not part of a public participation process. 'I don't understand the inability to share it with the public.'
He said he had nonetheless managed to get hold of a copy, but it made 'very vague commitments' for PRASA and the City to work together, with no set targets or a plan to work towards achieving them.
He also said the agreement on creating an intermodal, single ticket transport system was formulated in 2015, and there was no apparent plan for universal access.
In a statement later published on Politicsweb, Herron said the SLP presentation was 'theatrical bluster'.
'It's not actually a plan at all,' he wrote, adding that the document, which had been 'shrouded in secrecy' seemed to rather be a means to shield the City in litigation brought against it and PRASA by #UniteBehind and did not move the City any closer to managing the passenger rail service.
Quintas, who attended the meeting as an observer, said the City's business cases for the three scenarios outlined in its own rail feasibility study were 'near completion', with the finishing touches being added 'in a month or two'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The South African
11 hours ago
- The South African
Luxury travel buddy: Who is Paul Mashatile's wife?
Paul Mashatile has been condemned by parliament for spending millions on luxury travel alongside his wife, Humile. The deputy president and the Second Lady – who have a 24-year age gap – wed in 2023 after both their partners died in 2020. Over the past few days, Deputy President Paul Mashatile has been grilled over his five-star luxury travel he made with his wife Humile on unofficial trips, at the expense of the taxpayer. In a recent parliament sitting, it was revealed that Paul spent over R2 million on a six-night stay in London last year. Earlier this year, he travelled to Japan, where he splurged almost R1 million on a four-night stay with his wife. Since being sworn in last July, Paul has spent almost R8 million on four international trips. Paul Mashatile's younger, attractive wife is no stranger to the spotlight. Humile was first married to former ANC Western Cape secretary Songezo Mjongile, who died in 2020 after a battle with colon cancer. At the time, Paul was the treasurer of the ANC. Paul's first wife, Manzi Ellen Mashatile, died in July 2020 after contracting COVID-19. Paul has four children with his late wife, while Humile has two from her marriage to Songezo. The couple's nuptials occurred just days after Paul was sworn in as SA's new deputy president. Paul Mashatile and his wife Humile Mjongile. Images via X: @pmashatile/ RODGER BOSCH, AFP According to her Instagram account, the second lady is a philanthropist who recently launched her own charity, the Humile Mashatile Foundation. Her areas of interest are autism, HIV/ Aids treatment in young children, and holistic healing. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
The South African
a day ago
- The South African
Back to drawing board for 2026 revised SASSA SRD grant
Parliament sent back the revised SASSA SRD grant to the Department of Social Development this week. It's touted to become a Basic Income Grant for the unemployed in 2026. However, the working group wants to see urgent changes before it is approved. As such, a draft policy for the revised SASSA SRD grant was initiated with the committee for Social Protection, Community and Human Development back in November 2024. However, the committee sent it back to the DSD on Wednesday this week, citing 'affordability and economic opportunities for beneficiaries.' The none-permanent COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant has been extended every year since 2020. Image: File Before the new-look stipend is approved, it must survive various engagements. Like with the Office of the Presidency, National Treasury and Department of Employment and Labour. The South African Social Security Agency believes this will be concluded within a few months. From there a draft will be published for public comment. Policymakers from the DSD were told to 'better integrate pathways from income support to employment.' Currently, the grant pays out R370 each month to roughly 9-million beneficiaries living below the poverty line. However, the committee wants to see it become better 'aligned with broader economic objectives,' like jobs … South Africa's unemployment rate has only been increasing in the last decade, forcing many to exist in the informal sector. Image: File Essentially, the 2026 Basic Income Grant will be for those without jobs, but not to the point of creating long-term dependency on the grant. Therefore, the DSD and SASSA have to improve their data systems and align government programmes to make it work efficiently. Government is concerned that if and when they make the grant permanent, it must be budgeted for every year to remain viable (unlike the current R370 SRD which isn't permanent). While the department sets to work 'tightening' the revised SASSA SRD grant, it has requested that the National Treasury extend SRD for two more years. However, the Treasury has only approved the continuation of the current SRD grant until March 2026. There's simply not enough taxpayer money to ensure everyone who applies for a SASSA grant will be approved for one. Image: File In response to yet another delay to the revised SASSA SRD grant, many MPs were scathing of the DSD's work. The EFF's Noluvuyo Tafeni noted the policy has been in development for over two decades and was still not ready. Likewise, the DA's Alexandra Abrahams questioned whether the revised SASSA SRD grant policy would ever see the light of day. Finally, the MK's Nhlanhla Gcwabaza argued that SASSA should work to help people exit the grant system, not make them dependent on it … Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
3 days ago
- The Citizen
Basic Income Grant implementation postponed again
The department's target for the current financial year is to table the Basic Income Support policy to Cabinet for approval. The implementation of South Africa's Basic Income Grant has been delayed once again, with the Department of Social Development announcing that further consultations are required before the policy can be finalised. The department presented its progress report to the portfolio committee on social development on Wednesday, outlining the ongoing challenges and next steps in developing the Basic Income Support policy. Despite more than two decades of policy development, the Basic Income Grant remains elusive, with approximately 9.2 million people currently dependent on the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant and 19.2 million beneficiaries across the South African Social Security Agency's (Sassa) other programs. The department has been working to create opportunities for grant-dependent individuals while navigating concerns about affordability and sustainability. Latest Basic Income Grant policy developments The Department of Social Development has been actively working on the Basic Income Support policy, with the first draft presented to the social protection, community and human development cluster Cabinet committee on 26 November 2024. However, the committee directed that additional consultations be conducted with internal members, with a particular focus on the policy's affordability and its linkages to economic opportunities. Following this directive, an interdepartmental workshop was organised on 31 March 2025 to discuss the revised document. During this meeting, all members agreed on the necessity of identifying ways to connect the grant with employment and sustainable livelihood opportunities targeted at the economically active population. The meeting acknowledged that the labour market, especially public employment initiatives, would not be able to absorb all current Social Relief of Distress beneficiaries. Deputy director-general Brenda Sibeko informed members of parliament (MPs) that the policy has been revised again and could potentially be approved within a year. 'If the policy is approved in the current financial year, then it means that after that, we have to write the law that makes the basic income support to be a permanent income support policy like the other grants,' she explained. ALSO READ: Sassa CEO's multimillion-rand package revealed amid suspension and grant hikes Ongoing consultations and timeline A second interdepartmental workshop is planned for the end of June 2025, which will be followed by bilateral meetings with the Presidency, Department of Labour, and National Treasury. The department intends to approach the committee in the second quarter of the 2025/26 financial year to request Cabinet consideration of the revised draft Basic Income Support policy. 'Once the consultations are concluded, the department will approach the SPCHD Cabinet Committee again in the second quarter of the 2025/26 financial year, to request Cabinet to consider the revised policy, and if approved, publish it for public comments,' the department explained. ALSO READ: Sassa SRD grant to be 'converted' to basic income grant – Mbalula says [VIDEO] Parliamentary frustration mounts MPs expressed growing frustration with the prolonged delays in developing a comprehensive Basic Income Grant policy. EFF MP, Noluvuyo Tafeni, voiced this concern directly, asking: 'When was the Basic Income Grant policy proposal first made? It was about some 30 years back, and there is still no progress.' The Basic Income Grant has indeed been on the country's policy agenda for more than 20 years, with the first proposal dating back to 1998. A technical proposal was subsequently drafted in 2002, but it failed to gain Cabinet approval. Financial challenges and sustainability concerns National Treasury has expressed significant concerns about the affordability and sustainability of introducing a Basic Income Support policy, given the country's high unemployment rate and current fiscal position. The department is working with various stakeholders to identify alternative ways to strengthen the implementation of the current Social Relief of Distress grant while creating pathways for beneficiaries to transition to other economic opportunities. Despite these challenges, the committee heard that the department has received approval to extend the Social Relief of Distress provision until the end of March 2026, with a budget of R35 billion. The department has proposed that the Social Relief of Distress grant be made permanent, with a phased approach to increase benefits progressively. The proposed entry-level Basic Income Support grant would be set at the Lower Bound Poverty Line, with long-term plans to eliminate poverty at the Upper Bound Poverty Line. ALSO READ: Sassa problems and glitches this year, will we get a basic income grant in 2025? Basic income grant supporting infrastructure and pilot programs While policy development continues, the Department of Social Development is working on several parallel initiatives to support the eventual implementation of the Basic Income Support policy. The department said it was collaborating with stakeholders to assist the South African Social Security Agency in enhancing system interoperability to improve efficiency in data-sharing for both eligibility assessment and economic linkages. Additionally, the department, along with Sassa and partners, is piloting ways to link grant beneficiaries to employment activities. An interdepartmental task team, including key departments such as National Treasury, the Presidency, Higher Education and Training, and Public Works, is working on various pathways to improve access to training, employment, and entrepreneurship support to reduce reliance on social grants as the only pathway out of poverty. ALSO READ: Ramaphosa hints again at expanding SRD grant – and will Treasury go 'BIG' this time? Next steps and legislative process The department's target for the current financial year is to table the Basic Income Support policy to Cabinet for approval. Should such approval be granted, the department will need to amend the Social Assistance Act to introduce a new social grant category. While the formulation of the amendment can be done relatively quickly, the timing of the legislation and its passage will depend on how rapidly Cabinet approves the draft bill, which will then be tabled to Parliament for processing. During this legislative process, it will be necessary for the Social Relief of Distress grant to be extended beyond March 2026 to ensure the continuation of income support. 'In order to ensure stability during this consultation period, the department will consult National Treasury for the SRD provision to be extended until the legislative process is complete, to ensure that its beneficiaries are protected from extreme poverty and vulnerability,' the department stated. NOW READ: Household food basket shows food prices still increasing
