#UniteBehind wants Prasa declared a ‘national disaster’ as train attacks continue
News of a 100 railway police officers being trained does not satisfy the organisation, which says the move is ‘a plaster, not a safety plan’
Civil society coalition #UniteBehind is demanding that transport minister Blade Nzimande declares the state-owned Passenger Rail Agency of SA’s (Prasa) operations a "national disaster". The demand follows the murder of a 35-year old man and the attack and robbery of eight other people on a Metrorail train in the Western Cape last Friday. More than 140 Metrorail carriages have been destroyed in fires over the past year, Cape Town’s MEC Brett Herron has estimated. In a media statement on Wednesday, #UniteBehind said it had called for a commuter-centred safety plan for more than a year. "No progress has been made. We have delayed the launch of our court case against Prasa on issues of commuter safety for four months, to give the new board and management time to fix the rot." It supported the interim board appointed by the minister, though it said that such a board was unlawful. "We note the attempt to patch up the safety and security crisis by adding 100 law enforcement officers from t...
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