Transport minister Fikile Mbalula, joined by the Prasa control board and management, on Wednesday took a train ride on the Saulsville to Pretoria line.

This forms part of Prasa’s service recovery program aimed at restoring the rail network while fast-tracking the roll-out of new modern electric trains on 10 of the country’s railway lines.

The Saulsville line was temporarily suspended in October 2021 for rehabilitation in preparation for running the new train sets, which was delayed by theft and vandalism, according to the minister.

“We are well on track to recovering the 10 priority corridors in the country,” said Mbalula.

“This line is the third of the five lines in Tshwane to be brought back into service.”

He highlighted that the Saulsville station had a large commuter base since it was located in the densely populated township of Saulsville and neighbouring Atteridgeville.

“The station itself is a critical hub located in the proximity of several social amenities and educational facilities. It is also situated close to the hostel precinct and sporting facilities, supporting a large, economically active market segment,” he added.

Mbalula also welcomed business activity at the station and said that Prasa was negotiating with key tenants such as Sassa, Tshwane Bus Rapid Transit and other commercial tenants to commit to occupying their earmarked spaces.

Regarding the delays in restoring the line between Pretoria and Saulsville, Mbalula explained that lockdown restrictions played a pivotal role as did the lack of security at railway stations resulting in a “freeway” for theft and vandalism.

“During level 5 of the lockdown, trains were not running because it would have led to a massive spread of the coronavirus. During this period, we saw a huge spike in cable theft and vandalism at our stations. The July and August unrest last year also impacted us negatively.”

In light of recovering the five lines in Tshwane, Mbalula explained that to date, the Mabopane corridor in Tshwane had also been recovered while a limited service has been introduced on the Pienaarspoort-Pretoria corridor operating a diesel service.

“We are far from achieving what we want but we will make it happen. We hope to go beyond the 10 corridors,” he said.

Prasa CEO David Mphelo also cast light on the so-called “ghost workers” at the entity and said this issue had been handed over to the forensic department.

“Prasa identified 3 100 employees who were not physically verified. Further investigations revealed that some of these workers were on sick leave, annual leave, suspensions and maternity leave.

“Prasa currently has 2 006 unverified employees, who will undergo several phases to verify their employee status.”

He added that 50 foreign nationals with fraudulent or expired documents were identified as well. More than 400 employees also had either criminal records and/or fraudulent documents.

“Prasa has since frozen the 2 006 employees’ salaries, of whom 1 278 have yet to present themselves for physical verification and 728 suspected ghost employees.

“The final step will validate qualifications or fraudulent submissions, which includes the removal of ghost employees from the system.”

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