LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cape Town’s scenic rail revival faces basic service challenges

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (Prasa’s) senior manager: communications recently defended its record in response to an opinion piece published by Business Day, and in the same issue Business Day apologised for incorrect statements in that opinion piece. Prasa emerged, via its robust defence, as a thriving entity, improving in passenger numbers and financial governance.

Prasa’s Southern Suburbs line in Cape Town, one of the most picturesque in the country, starts under Table Mountain and winds along the False Bay coast all the way to Simon’s Town. It sports new carriages, which are safer and more efficient than those before.

It should be packed, and on a recent Saturday, a cloudless, magnificent Cape Town winter’s day when I took a train ride to the coast, there was indeed standing room only in the carriages, which run hourly until mid-afternoon.

However, the ticket office, which a notice declared was open on Saturdays from 6am to 1.30pm, was closed. So our family had no choice but to board the train, which came five minutes earlier than stated, and join the other commuters for a free ride.

Alighting at St James, one of the busiest stations along the line, we expected to meet with a ticket check and consequent payment. No chance of that happening, though — all ticket offices were closed, and there was free exit from the platform. The same applied for our return journey (the train came 35 minutes late, but what the heck — it was free).

Yes, it is great to see the trains being used again, and it is encouraging to read of Prasa’s apparent new lease on life and commitment to better service, but when it allows a train packed with commuters to travel free, it is headed for its normal story of failing revenue and bailouts from taxpayers.

Why can Prasa not get its act together? Closed ticket offices during a most busy time, contradictory notices (“Cash only, no cards”, and below “Cards accepted — tap only”) and trains that do not arrive on time.

If it cannot get the basics right, it will be on a one-way track to bankruptcy.

Roger Graham

Meadowridge

Choosing an outsider as president has historical precedence

Commentator Justice Malala recently suggested Rise Mzansi leader and MP Songezo Zibi as a contender for the presidency of the government of national unity, which has an important historical precedence.

In 1982 Giani Zail Singh was nominated by Indira Gandhi as a compromise president of India, as he was from the minority group of Sikhs, and he won by an overwhelming majority. Singh was the only Sikh ever to hold this position.

The book written by KC Singh (no relation) about Zail Singh, The Indian President: An Insider’s Account of the Zail Singh Years (1982-87), details his achievements during his single term of office.

He was a staunch upholder of the constitution and champion of the poor and disadvantaged, introduced far-reaching land reforms and deregulated the economy, creating the foundation for the economic powerhouse India is today.

Andrew McGregor

Arniston

What future for the Gulf states in the wake of the Iran war?

The Gulf states only exist because George Reynolds disobeyed a 1908 telegram from his boss, William Knox D’Arcy, to stop drilling, sell the equipment and come home, as bankruptcy loomed.

Rarely has disobedience proved more profitable. Then known as the British Lake, with local Bedouin chiefs appointed under the “protection” of the colonial office, the area from Iran round to Oman became a cornerstone of the petrochemical age.

As the US pushed Britain out in the aftermath of World War 2, assisted by characters like St John Philby (father of Kim) in Saudi Arabia, their transformation from rags to fabulous wealth has few equals.

With the petrochemical age now choking on rising temperatures, forest fires and the epoch-ending blunders of its champion, US President Donald Trump, will they face an Ozymandian future?

Recently experienced midnight temperatures of 35ºC, and little natural water requires cheap, abundant energy just for humans to function. As Iran exposes America’s paper tiger of military protection, will Iraq re-invade Kuwait, and will Iran resurrect its legal claim over Bahrain?

Will their mafia-like, autocratic and cosseted rulers resist unrest from rivals and mistreated religious groups, or retire to their British estates? Dubai’s Maktoum is the UK’s largest private landowner.

Debt is another challenge, as Dubai illustrated in the 2008/09 financial collapse. In stressful times, lenders distrust opaque ownership structures.

If the Gulf becomes a Persian lake, how will Iranians view these statelets that connived with the US since 1979 to heap insurrection, war and sanction hardships upon their country?

James Cunningham

Camps Bay

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