Mov in g Matters
A
t the end of September, Transport minister Dipuo
Peters, in a speech reportedly delivered on her behalf
at the annual general meeting of the Passenger Rail
Agency of South Africa (PRASA), revealed that the number of
passengers using South Africa’s long-distance passenger train
services had reduced from three million per annum in 2009/10,
to less than one million in the most recent reporting period. In
the same comparison, the number of PRASA operational trains
had reduced from 6 000 per annum, to less than 3 000.
Contributing factors to the agency’s R 700 million annual loss
were identified as the termination of the operating subsidy for
the Shosholoza Meyl service during the 2010/11 financial year,
R19 million of “fruitless and wasteful expenditure” on interest
and penalties related to late payment of creditors, a deemed
contravention of supply chain management policy and Public
Finance Management legislation relating to a R3,5 billion
locomotive procurement contract, and R38 million of “irregular
expenditures”, including unauthorised contract extension.
The minister, understandably, described the situation as
“dismal’, and has tasked PRASA management with putting
internal control measures and corrective actions in place to
address administrative deficiencies and policy breaches.
In recent times, we have become aware of numerous
complaints from users of long-distance trains relating to the
level of service experienced. Instances of bedding not being
available on overnight trips, lack of food availability on trains,
service delays and train cancellations have been noted.
These experiences, when read together with the facts revealed
in the Minister’s speech, suggest that the level of operational
Fiat Joins (Another)
Van-building Alliance
T
he subject of European integral panel vans has
made its appearance fairly frequently in this column.
The reason for our interest, apart from the very
substantial one million-plus unit volume accounted for each
year by this category, is the number of highly visible and
successful co-operative ventures that operate in this business
arena.
These include the Sevel Sud family of Fiat Ducato/Peugeot
Boxer/Citroen Jumper, the Renault-led partnership that
produces the Vauxhall/Opel Movano, Renault Master and
Nissan NV400 vans, as well as the smaller Nissan Primastar/
Opel Vivaro/Renault Trafic lineup, the joint venture building
VW Crafter and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, the Rena