Warning: Division by zero in /var/www/html/includes/classes/class.Pager.php on line 116
DA: Manny de Freitas says Prasa executives unaware of new Shosholoza Meyl route
https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Statements RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

DA: Manny de Freitas says Prasa executives unaware of new Shosholoza Meyl route


Close

Embed Video

DA: Manny de Freitas says Prasa executives unaware of new Shosholoza Meyl route

Outgoing Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi
Outgoing Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi

27th February 2018

ARTICLE ENQUIRY      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

On Friday, 23 February 2018, the previous Minister of Transport, Joe Maswanganyi launched train service between Johannesburg and Musina for long distance-travellers to commute directly between Gauteng and Limpopo. This will be operated by Shosholoza Meyl, the long-distance rail division of Prasa.

Inside information that I received indicates that no feasibility study nor business case has been prepared to justify this service. To make it even worse, no discussion took place about this new rail link with the top executives of Prasa. In fact, this service was launched and subsequently closed in the 2013-2014 financial year as there a low demand for this link which also proved to be too expensive.

Advertisement

Suddenly Maswanganyi had launched this line without any feasibility studies or needs analysis. It is clear; Maswanganyi was in a desperate scramble to impress the President so that he would get re-appointed onto the new Ramaphosa cabinet. How disgusting that Joe Maswanganyi and his cronies had blatantly used state resources for their own personal needs!

Ex-minister Maswanganyi claimed that there would be more launches and installations of Shosholoza Meyl across South Africa and across the borders. Media reports indicated that Maswanganyi had planned to introduce routes such as Johannesburg to Mafikeng and Botswana, Johannesburg to Nelspruit and Mozambique, as well as a new route from East London to Mthatha and Durban to East London.

Advertisement

I will be asking the new Transport Minister, Blade Nzimande official questions through the Parliamentary process about these additional rail services. In each case, documented justification needs to be provided for each service, as well as what processes were followed. Unless a new service proves to be viable, it should not be introduced.

With a new Minister heading Transport, his replies will prove to be most interesting!

 

Issued by DA

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za