South Africa missing the train
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has expressed disappointment that South Africa’s ‘National Rail Master Plan’ is only now expected to be completed by the end of 2025, presenting yet another delay in devolving public transport functions to local government—if it happens at all.
In President Cyril Ramaphosa’s weekly newsletter on 28 October 2024, the president noted that upgrading the country’s rail networks and infrastructure is core to economic growth and job creation in the country and is the “backbone” of transport.
Ramaphosa pointed to the immense damage done to the country’s railway networks over the years—by neglect, a severe lack of maintenance, criminality, and vandalism.
However, the president did point to some progress in turning things around, and added that “work is underway to develop a National Rail Masterplan that will lay out the future for rail in South Africa.”
“Among other things, the Masterplan will cover passenger rail in our cities, including rapid rail [which] will also cover high speed rail over long distances between centres.
“The substantial work required to develop the Masterplan is expected to be completed by the end of next year,” said the President.
However, Hill-Lewis said that “these continued delays are not acceptable to Capetonians who urgently need a safe, affordable, and reliable passenger rail service.”
Cape Town has long been calling for the urgent devolution of rail to allow the metro to operate passenger trains.
The White Paper on National Rail Policy, gazetted in May 2022, (as former Transport minister Fikile Mbalula put it) “acknowledges the importance of devolving public transport functions to the lowest level of government.
It predicted the delivery of a Devolution Strategy by 2023.
Meanwhile, Cape Town officials have alleged that previous transport ministers have stonewalled the city’s attempts to develop a rail devolution strategy.
In August 2023, Hill-Lewis threatened to lodge an intergovernmental dispute against Prasa after numerous unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a service level agreement with Prasa over the running of Metrorail, which is the rail passenger service in Cape Town and to surrounding areas such as Stellenbosch and Wellington.
Then, on 5 September 2023, in Parliament, the President said the strategy would be concluded and approved by 2024.
“We were very worried… [to] hear of a new deadline of end-2025 for a ‘masterplan’,” said Hill-Lewis.
“Given the track record to date and continuous delays, it is highly unlikely that the Rail Masterplan will be ready by the end of next year,” added the Cape Town mayor.
Hill-Lewis cited the absence of the word “devolution” in the President’s 28 October 2024 newsletter, which he worries is “back-tracking on promises to devolve passenger rail for capable metros to run.”
According to the City’s Rail Feasibility Study, which is in its final phase and ready to go through City Council structures, functional passenger rail service could “save lower income families in Cape Town R932 million per year and sustain 51,000 jobs in the metro.”
Rob Quintas, Cape Town mayoral committee member for Urban Mobility, said that “our research has found that efficient passenger rail will add R11 billion to the local economy each year, and save lower income families hundreds of millions in transport costs.”
“Cape Town is ready for the job-creating economic growth that comes with working trains. Lower-income families are ready for more affordable public transport [which] is why we expect extreme urgency from the national government to devolve rail for the City to run,’ said Quintas.
Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for Ramaphosa, recently told GroundUp that “the National Rail Masterplan is a comprehensive and inclusive process that is going to serve the needs of the entire country, including non-urban areas. It goes beyond the needs of any particular Metro.”
“It therefore requires an extensive consultation and broader participation process in order to be fully reflective of all stakeholder needs [and] will require a sustainable funding model both in the medium and long term.
“Hence, the anticipation that the work to complete the Masterplan will be realistically completed at the end of next year, as the President stated,” said Magwenya.
The City’s Rail Feasibility Study – which sets out various devolution scenarios – will serve on the Council’s Urban Mobility committee agenda on 7 November 2024.
Pending Council approval in December, the City is set to develop detailed devolution business plans based on viable scenarios for rail takeover, including private sector concessions.
Hill-Lewis is due to meet Transport Minister Barbara Creecy in Cape Town on 30 October 2024 and said that he will raise the City’s concerns.
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