Prasa tightens security and recruits over 3 000 officers

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has started a massive recruitment drive to hire 3 100 security guards, in a bid to protect its rail infrastructure and other assets.

‘Job Creation Vandalism’

Prasa Administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo said insourcing the security function will better secure the agency’s infrastructure while creating much needed jobs.

The country’s railway lines have been under siege over the years due to criminal activity, which also affects Prasa’s profitability.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has said that in more than two years, almost R1 billion has been lost due to either train burnings, vandalism of power stations, public disorder, train collisions or floods. In 2019, the figure was sitting at R364 million.

“Employing our own security personnel will give us greater control of the protection of our network and assets. We have a responsibility to do all we can to protect the public infrastructure as acts of vandalism and theft become worse,” Mpondo said.

He said the agency intends to give preference to qualifying individuals who reside in communities near Prasa’s rail network.

 “As the economy sheds jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prasa as a state-owned company has a responsibility to ensure that where it makes business sense, it must provide employment to citizens,” Mpondo said.

The Administrator’s plan to insource security personnel is in line with Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula’s nine point mandate which he set out for Mpondo when he took over on 9 December 2019.

Appearing before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport on 4 February, the Minister said the annual investment of approximately R700 million on the part of Prasa must be directed toward creating permanent jobs and sustainable livelihoods for those entrusted with securing the railways.

The contingent will consist of three categories. These include the static and train guards, operations monitoring controllers and armed response guards.

“Prasa’s focus is to ensure a holistic protection service for the organisation’s assets, commuters as well as employees. The new recruits will also focus on general crime prevention which, once rooted out, will most likely see a significant decrease in the vandalism of Prasa’s properties and theft of assets,” the agency said.