Cyril Ramaphosa’s bullet train did not leave the station

[Nat Quinn]

President Cyril Ramaphosa promised South African bullet trains and smart cities. Instead, they got power cuts, water outages, and trains that could not run because the tracks were stolen.

In his 2019 State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa painted the picture of a futuristic country with bullet trains and megacities.

“We want a South Africa that has prioritised its rail networks and is producing high-speed trains connecting our megacities and the remotest areas of our country,” he said.

“We should imagine a country where bullet trains pass through Johannesburg as they travel from here to Musina and stop in Buffalo City on their way from eThekwini back to Cape Town.”

In the same speech, he said the time has arrived to build a new smart city founded on the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In his 2020 State of the Nation Address, he said a new smart city is taking shape in Lanseria, which 350,000 to 500,000 people will call home within the next decade.

Fast-forward five years, and none of these promises have come to fruition. In fact, the country has moved backwards since then.

South Africa’s richest city, Johannesburg, is collapsing in front of everyone’s eyes, and the government seems unable to do anything about it.

Johannesburg’s water systems are on the brink of collapse, and urgent intervention is needed to avoid Day Zero.

Research revealed 2,396 burst pipes, 6,727 leaking meters, 442 leaking valves, and 259 leaking fire hydrants.

The City of Johannesburg has 80 reservoirs, of which 42 are leaking, and only 11 are being repaired.

The city is also beset with crime and corruption, which has caused many businesses and rich households to leave for the Western Cape.

Regular power outages — the result of distribution network breakdowns — regularly hit large swathes of Johannesburg.

Officials left potholes unattended for months, and parts of the city had no water for weeks. Water outages have become commonplace.

Bloomberg reported that Johannesburg needed R221 billion to catch up on maintenance and overdue upgrades across its collapsing road, power and water networks.

It highlighted significant risks to public, economic, and environmental safety if not addressed. Simply put, Johannesburg is collapsing.

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No bullet trains – or train tracks

While Ramaphosa was waxing lyrical about high-speed trains connecting South Africa’s largest cities, criminals have been stealing the tracks and gutting train stations.

In 2021, numerous reports emerged about criminals destroying South Africa’s railway system, with missing tracks, gutted train stations, and stolen cables.

The pillaging of the railway system accelerated during the hard lockdown, preventing trains from operating.

Carte Blanche revealed that infrastructure vandalism and theft caused billions in damage and occurred in broad daylight.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (Prasa’s) network was carried away bit by bit, with criminals stripping every piece of copper and steel they could find.

There was no risk to criminals because security contracts were cancelled, and guards around the country were withdrawn.

Unsurprisingly, this crime spree happened after the Public Protector exposed widespread corruption related to these contracts.

The destruction of railway infrastructure was so severe that passenger rail services have been rendered useless in many areas.

The Sunday Times reported that signalling technology, which cost Prasa R7 billion, lies “useless alongside the railway tracks”. Cable theft rendered the signalling system unusable.

The signalling system was supposed to reduce train delays and cancellations in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape.

Transnet’s rail corridors have also deteriorated so much that mining companies were forced to transport their minerals to South Africa’s ports via trucks.

A study by the GAIN Group showed Transnet’s collapse cost the country R1 billion per day in economic output in 2023.

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Ramaphosa’s smart city promises

Ramaphosa punted the Lanseria Smart City project in his 2020 and 2021 State of the Nation Addresses.

“A new smart city is taking shape in Lanseria, which 350,000 to 500,000 people will call home within the next decade,” he said in 2020.

“The process is being led by the Investment and Infrastructure Office in The Presidency alongside the provincial governments of Gauteng and North West”.

He added that they are working together with the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Madibeng to make the city a reality.

In 2021, he said,” The Lanseria Smart City, the first new city to be built in a democratic South Africa, is now a reality in the making.”

However, visiting the site for the Lanseria Smart City revealed that very little has happened since Ramaphosa punted it in 2020 and 2021.

There is little infrastructure development. Apart from the Lanseria International Airport, there are large stretches of open land and growing informal settlements.

There were numerous shacks in the area, which may pose problems when the time comes to develop the land.

In 2020, a group of unlawful occupants on the Lindley Farms property who were not evicted before the sale caused big problems for the project.

The land occupiers obtained Extension of Security of Tenure (ESTA) rights through time for being tenants of Lindley Farms in the past.

What started as a seemingly minor issue evolved into a major problem which stalled the development of the Lanseria mega smart city.

The same may happen with the rapidly growing number of informal settlements on land needed for the Lanseria Smart City development.

SOURCE:Cyril Ramaphosa’s bullet train did not leave the station – Daily Investor

 

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