Many people were quick to say “it’s not surprising” and “we knew it all along”.
But this is probably the first instance on record of a train arsonist admitting that he did it to benefit the taxi industry.
Ricardo Khan was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the Blue Downs Magistrates’ Court last week.
During his trial, he testified that he was paid handsomely for putting a train out of service, leaving commuters with no option but to make use of taxis for transportation.
Khan, who was caught on camera setting alight a train in Eerste River in March last year, was convicted for causing damage to essential infrastructure worth R3.5 million.
The destruction also inconvenienced and hit the pockets of ordinary citizens, who rely on the cheaper service offered by Metrorail.
So, we have a culprit behind bars, and pats on the back for law enforcement, Passenger Rail Agency SA and SAPS officers.
Happy ending? Not by a long shot.
This vark must not get a minute’s peace until he piemps the person who paid him – and the taxi bosses and association(s) who stood to benefit.
The whole gang of saboteurs needs to go down.
A Prasa official revealed during the trial that since 2019, four trains have been burnt and stations vandalised.
So this one arson incident could merely have been the tip of the iceberg.
The authorities need to uncover the full extent of the taxi industry’s involvement in attacks on our trains.
And then go toe to toe with these skollies, investigate them and bring them to book.
Tough task. And then that’s only half the problem.
We also need to get to the bottom of vandalism of rail infrastructure and theft of copper cables.
Prasa says the damage to stations and rail network over the past few years has been estimated to be R1.4 billion. This does not include lost revenue, just asset damage.
Over the past year, Prasa has been working to get all trains in the province back on track after limited service was offered during the lockdown.
The Southern Line running from Cape Town to Simon’s Town is operating at full service, with its new “People’s Train”.
And the problematic Central Line – which runs from Cape Town through Philippi, Netreg, Chris Hani and Kapteinsklip and has been plagued by vandalism and cable theft – also needs to be reopened.
There’s still a lot of work to be done to get the rail service running smoothly and safely.
Meanwhile, our Golden Arrow Bus Service also bears the brunt of vandalism and arson, their annual damage bill running into millions of rands.
Whenever there’s unrest, strikes and service delivery protests, buses are the first to come under attack with fire and rocks.
The taxis somehow manage to avoid these acts of vandalism and violence.
That said, the taxi industry does have its own bloody internal battles for control of routes to contend with.
taariq.halim@inl.co.za