‘What rubbish is this?’ – Transport minister slammed for blaming apartheid for state of rail services

Transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has sparked mixed reactions for blaming the apartheid government for the state of rail services, with many saying the excuse was a “tired strategy” from the ANC.

Chikunga, who was addressing the media at the reopening of the Leralla to Germiston passenger rail line recently, blamed the apartheid government for the poor state of railway infrastructure.

“In the 1980s, the apartheid government was spending about R6 billion for rail. From there, the apartheid government stopped investing, to the extent that in the 1990s, the apartheid government was spending less than R1 billion on any rail infrastructure.

“The apartheid government decided to deregulate the transportation of anything on the road, including the transportation of passengers [and] goods, which lead to the mushrooming of trucks destroying our roads,” she said.

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Chikunga said when the ANC came into power in 1994, there was no investment in rail services.

“We took long as the government to say we need to invest. We had to do some studies to check if it was a correct decision… It was this government that said we have got to invest in rail services in South Africa. Yes, there might be some areas where we took long to decide on that but it was not us who decided not to invest in rail [infrastructure]”.

EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu questioned why the minister blamed no investment in rail infrastructure on the apartheid government.

“These ANC mediocre puppets have zero intellectual, political, ideological, and even spiritual commitment and fortitude to bring about meaningful change to South Africa.

“How on earth does a minister of transport blame no investment in rail infrastructure on the apartheid government? Wasn’t apartheid removed so that a post-apartheid government could do better? What rubbish is this?” he asked.

Build One SA movement leader Herman Mashaba suggested that the ANC blaming apartheid for what they failed to do in 30 years was nothing new.

“The ANC campaign strategy from president to cadre is to blame apartheid for what they failed to do in 30 years. We must not be deceived, we must not allow our intelligence to be insulted and we must not be distracted. We know who governed South Africa for the last three decades.”