The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has asked the court to grant it access to put back into operation the AFRO4000 locomotives that were reportedly “too tall” to run on large portions of South Africa’s long-distance network.
In recent court documents seen by the Sunday Independent, the Acting CEO of Prasa Nathaniel Roesch argued that Prasa had considered and concluded that the trains were “capable of being safely operated for a narrower purpose” than initially intended.
This comes after the previous findings of the Johannesburg High Court ruling which ruled in favour of Prasa after it had argued the locomotives were acquired for a particular purpose and, as repeatedly stated by Prasa in the review application, were not fit and could not be safely operated for that purpose.
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 Joburg High Court to set aside Prasa’s 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.
The trains are now being auctioned by Swifambo’s liquidators, Tshwane Trust, to recover amounts owed to PRASA.
However, Prasa is now asking the court to allow it access to the trains that were not delivered so that it can operate them.
“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-three (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.
Roesch mentioned that Prasa needed more locomotives than the thirteen (13) diesel locomotives and nine (9) hybrid locomotives on offer from the liquidators of Swifambo.
“In order to operate the rationalised MLPS, PRASA requires thirty-four (34) haulage locomotives and thirteen (13) shunting locomotives to assist with the commuter services and other activities.
“The diesel locomotives on offer from the liquidators are known as the AFRO 4000 and the hybrid locomotives are known as the AFRO Dual. The AFRO 4000 is derived from the EURO 4000 locomotive which was not the diesel locomotive offered in the bid submitted by Swifambo and accordingly not assessed during the tender process. The EURO 3000 was offered.
“PRASA drew the attention of the courts hearing the review to a number of problems with these locomotives. PRASA proved that the locomotives were not fit for their intended purpose and were unsafe. The reasons for this were different for the diesel (AFRO 4000) and the hybrid (AFRO Dual) locomotives,” said Roesch.
Roesch stated in the documents that PRASA conducted an inspection of the locomotives stored overseas (tall trains) and prepared a report that found the trains were capable of operation.
“In the PRASA report, Mr David Potter states that “all of the locomotives will require to be modified to achieve RSR compliance before they can enter service.” Mr Potter expresses the opinion that “the documents provided … have provided sufficient information … to conclude that compliance is achievable” and “offer little risk if undertaken diligently,” Roesch stated in his court documents.
Two weeks ago, Prasa told the publication it would provide a comment but did not do so despite various reminders.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which investigates matters referred to it by the Presidency, announced in February 2024 that its eye was now on the Swifambo contract, and investigations into the Swifambo director and PRASA were underway.
Sunday Independent
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za