THE MK Party has rejected Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy's Request for Information (RFI) to attract private sector investment in the country's rail network.

In a statement on Monday, the MK Party accused the minister of trying to privatise the sector through this move after the department had issued a request for information.

"The MK Party has consistently rejected government reforms, including this third-party access to Transnet rail network as well as separation of Transnet's freight rail into two divisions. The RFI is a deceptive strategy to let the private sector dictate terms.

"If the government had a clear plan, it would have issued a Request for Proposals with defined objectives. Instead, this is a fishing expedition to justify its failed private sector participation framework," the party said through its spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela.

This comes as the minister indicated that the government was looking to the private sector to help revitalise the ailing rail system.

Creecy decried the country's over-reliance on road transport, which she said has made products far more expensive than they would be if they were moved across the country through rail transport.

The minister, who spoke during the first day of the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa's (NUMSA) National Bargaining Conference currently under way at the Sandton Hotel, indicated that for the country's rail transport to return to its former glory, the Gauteng government, which had promised to help fix the Gauteng to Eastern Cape line, had not kept its promise and as a result, there needs to be other ways of trying to get the railroad going again.

"We have seen a dramatic decline in freight rail from 2016. In 2016/2017, we were carrying 220 million carriages of freight a year. Today, by the end of this financial year, we were back to merely 100 million carriages of freight.

"The consequence of this is that a lot of the freight has decanted onto roads and our roads are now jam-packed with trucks. What that means is that the products end up being much more expensive because road transport is much more expensive," she said.

Beyond this, the minister indicated that road transport results in huge backlogs at the country's ports, resulting in delayed delivery of products to the end consumers.

"The consequence of road transport is also that there has been a hold-up at our ports. At the end of 2023, the impact of all of this had a direct effect on the mining industry, the auto industry, and other industries. If you look at the budget cuts, the primary reason was that the National Treasury was not earning enough from the country's exports," she added.

Despite the recent budget cuts affecting other sectors, Creecy commended Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who has allocated over R19 billion to the country's Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) to fix the country's rail network, which after years of neglect and damage, has made it unattractive to the country's economy.

In his Budget Speech two weeks ago, Godongwana said PRASA has been allocated R19.2 billion to improve its automated signalling equipment. He noted that PRASA is making steady progress to rebuild infrastructure to provide affordable commuter rail services.

"The biggest question is where do we find the money to fix our rail network? For years and years, signalling equipment was stolen and we have a situation where trains are moving very slowly, and we also have a situation where train stations are vandalised... I am told travelling to Durban by rail takes 24 hours, I mean you could just walk there.

"The Gauteng government has not delivered on its promise to invest in the auto industry by sorting out the line from Gauteng to Port Elizabeth. That commitment has not been fulfilled... We are engaging in attracting third-party investors and by that, I mean the private sector to invest in our rail network; but that does not mean we are selling our network, it will still remain ours," she said.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za

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SA rail network revival: government and opposition deadlock over private sector role