
We are governed by stupid and lazy people
Sometime in the future, the next generation will wonder, why our current generation was so stupid.
Two weeks ago I took the train from Tygerberg Station near Stellenbosch University Medical School. I arrived on the train platform at 8:10am but reached Cape Town at 9:30am. This trip taught me that the South African Railway did not care about customer service. I asked the ticket office the trains arrival time and was told that the train was “on its way” and was told to hurry to the platform. After waiting for 40 minute, nobody including the security and ticket people knew what was happening.
The trip took 1hr and 20min because the train arrived late and stopping between stations. The train was full and many people in first class had to stand. People were selling all kinds of products in the train whilst some talked loudly or played music with no regard for others.
Whilst other nations orbit the earth, south African train commuters cannot get to work on time. I thus discourage our government from talking about 5G technology as this is a dream for locals.
The train and stations are filthy and a refuge for vagrants. While some train stations had security nobody cleans anything. From one station to the next, burnt-out buildings and shacks mushroomed near Salt River and Woodstock station. The filth and dumping proved that the Railway management lacked dignity, intellect and did not care about their sheltered employ at taxpayers’ expense.
It is obvious that the railway network must be given to a capable authority or privatized as the national authority currently in charge, is a joke.
It is understandable why people want to live in the city, near jobs. Commuters do not trust the train service to get them to work on time and with this uncertainty comes anxiety, stress and illness. If the trains worked properly, then the city can build housing on the periphery where land is cheap. Costly land can be sold to the rich who can pay more in rates and taxes which funds affordable housing.
South Africa can progress but we must remove the stupid, useless and corrupt politicians from power and replace them with leaders who can at least think logically and spend our taxes wisely.
Cllr Yagyah Adams
Cape Muslim Congress