You'll be hunted down‚ rail boss warns saboteurs

20 April 2016 - 16:48 By Jerome Cornelius
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Metrorail will not rest until the people who have reduced trains in Cape Town to a state of chaos are behind bars.

Train on fire at Esplanade station in Woodstock.
Train on fire at Esplanade station in Woodstock.
Image: TMG

Nathi Khena‚ the acting chief executive of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa‚ said this after the Cape Town Labour Court made what he called a "strong statement" on Wednesday about the campaign of arson and vandalism unleashed against the rail service.

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The court granted Metrorail's application to have a temporary interdict against 182 illegal strikers made permanent‚ and told Metrorail to implement extra security measures.

Khena said the equivalent of two trains had been burned this year alone‚ amounting to 17 coaches.

He said 89 train sets were needed in the Western Cape‚ and each train served 2‚000 people. "So 4‚000 people are going to have a problem‚" he said.

Khena said a suspect in police custody in connection with one of the arson attacks was believed to be a former Metrorail employee or an employee of Prasa's cleaning service provider.

"We've also been picking up rumours that some of our employees have gone out to get people to commit these acts of terror‚" he said.

Earlier‚ Congress of South African Trade Unions regional secretary Tony Ehrenreich said: “Cosatu is glad that the perpetrator has been arrested and whilst calling for due process‚ the law must deal with this criminal activity in the most decisive manner.

“Cosatu calls for the same decisive action against cable thieves and the criminals who prey on the innocent on the trains."

The trade unionist also said the federation “is calling for the harshest sentence to be imposed on the arsonist” and “believes that destruction of the trains and the rail infrastructure must be seen as sabotage‚ as it has a devastating effect on the economy”.

Ehrenreich said: “The workers also lose huge amounts of money due to the delays in trains as a result of the damage to property.”

Train commuters in the Mother City were on Wednesday morning advised of delays of 30 to 40 minutes on most lines.

TMG Digital/The Times

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