Vagrants accused of north train station fire
"It will require us to put more work now than it was initially planned."
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has condemned the burning of the Manduca station in Ga-Rankuwa on Thursday morning.
Spokesperson Lilian Mofokeng said Prasa was called around 07:20 by a passer-by that the station was burning.
“We deployed our team, which on arrival found firefighters at the scene. We do not know what could have started the fire, but I can confirm that our vehicles do patrol the area, and the last time we were there was around 04:00.”
Mofokeng said it was suspected the fire could be arson and caused by vagrants who were “usually removed from the station”.
Mofokeng could not say what the damage to the station would come to, as the building had already been vandalised.
“As you are aware in that area, we are currently not operational; so I do not know the cost of the fire, but what I can confirm is that the roof is still intact. Inside the station, it was completely vandalized.”
She said the burning of the station was a setback towards refurbishing it.
“It will require us to put in more work now than was originally planned.”
Mofokeng called on communities to help protect public property from vandalism.
“We want to urge communities to work with us and report anyone selling infrastructure material stolen from our network so that we can be able to work together to curb this escalating vandalism.”
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