Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City is disappointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that a ‘National Rail Master Plan’ would now only be complete by the end of 2025, as noted in the President’s weekly newsletter on Monday, 28 October 2024. The City has been calling for the urgent devolution of rail to allow the metro to operate passenger trains. A functional passenger rail service will save lower income families in Cape Town R932 million per year and sustain 51 000 jobs in the metro. This is according to the City’s Rail Feasibility Study set to serve on next week’s agenda of the Council’s Portfolio Committee for Urban Mobility.
The President stated in his weekly newsletter dated 28 October 2024: ‘Work is underway to develop a National Rail Masterplan that will lay out the future for rail in South Africa. Among other things, the Masterplan will cover passenger rail in our cities, including rapid rail. It will also cover high speed rail over long distances between centres. The substantial work required to develop the Masterplan is expected to be completed by the end of next year.’
In response, Mayor Hill-Lewis said these continued delays are not acceptable to Capetonians who urgently need a safe, affordable, and reliable passenger rail service.
‘Cabinet’s own National Rail Policy White Paper 2022 first promised the delivery of a Devolution Strategy by 2023. Then in Parliament on 5 September 2023, the President promised the strategy would be concluded and approved by 2024. We were very worried back in February at the President’s failure to even mention the devolution strategy in SONA, and now we hear of a new deadline of end-2025 for a ‘masterplan’.
‘Given the track record to date and continuous delays, it is highly unlikely that the Rail Masterplan will be ready by the end of next year. The word devolution was also notably absent from the President’s newsletter, suggesting the ANC is now back-tracking on promises to devolve passenger rail for capable metros to run. We condemn this placing of politics before people,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The City has a standing offer to the President to form a joint working committee to fast-track rail devolution, but has not received a response from the President despite a public commitment to do so.
The City has previously stated that the national government’s failure to devolve rail will ultimately necessitate an intergovernmental dispute, but that Cape Town would much rather have the President accept an offer for a joint working committee, and to set a clear deadline for handing over passenger rail to the metro.
‘The City’s Rail Feasibility Study is within its final phase and ready to go through City Council structures for further recommendations. Our research has found that efficient passenger rail will add R11 billion to the local economy each year, and save lower income families hundreds of millions in transport costs. Cape Town is ready for the job-creating economic growth that comes with working trains. Lower income families are ready for more affordable public transport. This is why we expect extreme urgency from the national government to devolve rail for the City to run,’ said Councillor Rob Quintas, Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility.
The City’s extensive Rail Feasibility Study – which sets out various devolution scenarios – will serve on the Council’s Urban Mobility committee agenda on 7 November 2024. Pending Council approval in December, the City is set to develop detailed devolution business plans based on viable scenarios for rail takeover, including private sector concessions.
