Yes. What we are doing in the meantime, we have actually activated net joins as we embark on the process of a new security arrangement going forward, net joins that include the police and everybody to assist. They have activated rail way police. It is a stopgap measure. It is not sustainable.
In Prasa, in terms of permanent security, 3 000 security personnel which we intend to increase. At the same time we redirect and ask
for deviation from the Treasury to redirect that money to invest in the permanent security arrangement going forward.
So, within the timeframes I have actually mentioned we should be in the position to see an improvement in the main corridors as we seek to upgrade and at the same time to deal with all the backlogs that we are facing there.
I mean the major corridors that are affected you will know, it is Umlazi, it is the main line in Cape Town, it is Johannesburg, Mabopane and so on. We intend to make an impact there. We do not want people to be riding on top of the trains, free of charge and surfing. That is an old thing. We are going to change it. We are working very hard to do that. We have a plan that is being implemented and is evaluated weekly through the war room. Yesterday was our 14th week. We have entered the 15th week now which is at the halfway mark. Our report tells us about what we are doing in changing the situation.
Hon members will see and they themselves as people, who hold us accountable, will see these interventions and the changes we are making, particularly within Prasa in terms of those challenges that we know of people not arriving on time and trains getting
burnt down and all of that, over crowding people not paying to ride the trains. The new rolling stock that we are bringing in, we upgrade our security system, we upgrade the signalling and doing all sorts of things. We are bringing in the fencing. The fencing is not going to be normal where in which you put on a fence the next thing you see it in the [Mikhukhus.] informal settlements or shacks. No. It is going to be something beyond imagination so that it is something that you cannot take it home to build a shack.
The bylaws must be enforced working with Prasa to ensure that this encroachment is actually addressed. However, we are not going to wait for bylaws. We are implementing now. The board and the management through the war room are implementing a detailed plan on erecting fencing to protect the rail lines which have been encroached by communities. So, most of the time, the accidents that happen in the trains happen because where there are boom gates people when they see the train that is coming there, they think that they can just quickly pass. That is when they get into collusion with the trains and we encounter accidents.
So, we are dealing with that in our project of what needs to be done in terms of protecting that particular space. You will know
that Prasa was faced with a big challenge of capital expenditure because it did not have the capacity to do any other thing. We are addressing that looking within state agencies that belong to us to share that capacity with us to be able to monitor and implement and expand capital projects in order for us to make passenger rail safe for our people. Thank you.
IsiZulu: