Armed security staff employed by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) to escort train drivers were attacked and shot at by a group of unknown armed men in Philippi, Samora Machel, in Cape Town on Sunday, Prasa said.
The driver of the vehicle was shot in the shoulder, Prasa said in a statement.
The attack is not the first on Prasa staff, hence the employment of guards to protect drivers.
In the Western Cape, 88 additional armed security guards and two armoured vehicles had been deployed to patrol day and night to enable technical teams to repair vital equipment and prevent further attacks on rail infrastructure.
Criminals had continued to strip and vandalise the central line at an “unprecedented rate, causing delays and derailments as a result of stolen rail tracks’, Prasa said.
“Prasa is under siege and yet we service a high number of passengers who rely solely on our services,” Prasa acting group CEO Cromet Molepo said in the statement.
“We have now started to deviate funding to hire more security personnel, money that could in fact be used towards servicing passengers. Prasa is the only public transport service that is currently under such tremendous pressure to deliver services using old and obsolete technology at a low cost to customers, but one that is the least respected as evidenced by the relentless onslaught of vandalism and criminal attacks against our personnel and infrastructure,” Molepo said.
[Source: African News Agency]