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Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has welcomed a High Court application by Unite Behind to compel the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the National Government to conclude a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the City on passenger rail standards and improvement targets. Read more below.

‘Prasa recently did an about-turn and resumed talks with the City after initially refusing to sign a formal Service Level Agreement on the quality and level of passenger rail services they will deliver. It is still within PRASA’s hands to conclude and sign a SLA with us, without the need for a court to compel them to do so. In fact, the City has put a detailed draft SLA to Prasa for consideration and signature. Should the litigation proceed, we would welcome the opportunity to air any outstanding issues Prasa may have in concluding a SLA, and look forward to reviewing the court papers.

‘The overall goal is to get passenger rail devolved for the City to run in the shortest possible time, and we will keep pushing for that devolution to happen. Joint planning with national is needed to get devolution done as soon as possible, but unfortunately we are in the process of having to launch an intergovernmental dispute due to a lack of engagement from national government, including the non-response by President Ramaphosa to our request for a joint devolution working committee.

"Such a committee is an important step towards our ultimate goal of the devolution of passenger rail to the City, but in the interim, it is vital that Prasa’s service delivery is measurable, with clear, agreed targets for improvement. Service level planning is a legal requirement under the National Land Transport Act, but to date, Prasa has only ever been willing to enter into Memorandums of Understanding, such as the one concluded with the City in 2015, which does not have the same binding accountability as a SLA would,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

Issued by: Media Office, City of Cape Town