The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has filed a court application to operate the AFRO4000 locomotives, which were previously deemed “too tall” for large portions of the rail network across the country.
Despite initial concerns about safety and compatibility, Prasa now claims the trains can be safely operated for a “narrower” purpose.
The move comes after Prasa returned the locomotives to Swifambo, the supplier, following a court order setting aside the contract due to irregularities. Swifambo is currently being liquidated, and the locomotives are being auctioned to recover debts owed to Prasa.
The Star’s sister paper, the Sunday Independent, recently reported that Swifambo was appointed in 2012 to supply locomotives worth R3.5 billion to Prasa from a Spanish company, Vossloh.
However, in 2017, Prasa obtained a court order in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, to set aside the decision to award the tender to Swifambo, and the decision by the parastatal to enter into a contract with the entity, with retrospective effect.
Following the ruling, Swifambo challenged the high court decision in the Supreme Court of Appeal, but the appeal was dismissed with costs on November 30, 2018.
After the dismissal of the appeal, PRASA returned the locomotives which Swifambo had supplied, and became entitled to a repayment of over R2.6 billion.
Swifambo resolved on December 13, 2018, by way of a special resolution, to be voluntarily liquidated. The Master of the High Court appointed liquidators on March 18, 2019.
Prasa now argues that the agency desperately needs more locomotives to address a severe shortage, which has resulted in a significant decline in fare revenue and impaired its ability to maintain infrastructure. The court application seeks access to the undelivered locomotives to support Prasa's operations.
However, the move raises questions about Prasa’s earlier claims that the locomotives were unsafe and unfit for purpose.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has announced investigations into the Swifambo contract and Prasa officials, adding to the controversy surrounding the deal.
The court’s decision will have significant implications for Prasa’s operations and the future of the Afro 4000 locomotives.
In a sworn affidavit written by the agency’s acting Prasa Acting CEO, Nathaniel Roesch, he stated that the purpose of his affidavit was to persuade the court that the direction sought by the applicants was capable of being lawfully implemented.
“I respectfully submit that the court is not required and it would not be prudent to determine that the procurement of the locomotives is lawful, and Prasa does not request the court to do so. In the circumstances, Prasa does not seek to set out the entirety of the information that would be material to such an assessment,” he wrote.
“The shortage of locomotives has a number of causes. The principal cause is the age of the locomotives in the fleet. The number of available locomotives has steadily declined from a peak of seventy (70) locomotives 10 years ago to only twenty-two (22) in service in the current year: eight (8) electric and fourteen (14) diesel
“The current fleet impedes PRASA in its mandate and is in no position to support the business.
“Fare revenue has declined from two hundred and twenty eight million (R228 million) in 2010 to sixty-seven (R67 million) in 2020, a 71% loss of revenue. PRASA should be funded, to the extent of 40%, by fare revenue
“The impact on PRASA is not only a loss of revenue. The unavailability of locomotives also results in an inability to maintain and rehabilitate the infrastructure required to operate the services on the rail network, and the potential for damage to the infrastructure and rolling stock caused by disaffected passengers,” argued Roesch in his affidavit.
He stated in the documents that P conducted an inspection of the locomotives stored overseas (tall trains) and prepared a report that found the trains were capable of operation.
The SIU, who got the green light from President Cyril Ramaphosa by signing the proclamation, announced in February 2024 that it was zooming in on the Swifambo contract.
Attempts to get comment from the Department of Transport were unsuccessful at the time of print.
The Star