MKP, EFF reject transport dept's budget, say it lacks vision for transforming public transport

CAPE TOWN - The two main opposition parties in Parliament have rejected the budget of the transport department, saying it lacks a vision for transforming public transport.

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP)'s Lucky Montana, a former CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), went head-to-head with Minister Barbara Creecy, challenging the planned private partnership model for the rail and freight sector, saying that it would undermine the state.

Creecy said that limited state resources to fund infrastructure development make private investment critical and that Transnet would issue requests for proposals from the end of August.

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Minister Creecy said that efforts to improve commuter rail services were paying off, with 35 out of 40 corridors having been revived, with the plan to up the 77 million passenger trips of the last financial year to 116 million in the next.

"Our competitive pricing model for commuter passengers will ensure that working-class communities take advantage of our offerings."

But Montana told the minister that private sector investment in the rail sector would have the opposite effect.

"The private sector will be left with no option but to increase prices because without vertically-integrated industries, like transport and energy, their operational costs will skyrocket."

Both Montana and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)'s Mazwi Blose have also slammed the department for inefficiencies in the taxi recapitalisation programme, saying that too many unsafe vehicles remained on the country’s roads.