PRASA to tighten security due to alarming crime levels
The Transport Ministry is beefing up security on railway lines and at stations to curb theft and vandalism.
Minister Fikile Mbalula has launched the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa Ministerial Security Plan.
It includes the in-sourcing of over three thousand PRASA security personnel.
READ: Mbalula vows to crackdown on illegal taxi operators
Mbalula says crimes at railways have reached alarming levels.
He says last month, six men were arrested after they were found with copper cables and signalling equipment worth R5.5 million.
He says it's economic sabotage.
"In our own research, we now know that the copper cables are melted in laboratories in our townships and in our surrounding areas.
"Then they are exported via Mozambique to the Asian market, that's where they are sold. That is big money for these criminal syndicates," says Mbalula.
