“We are tired of this. Something needs to be done. If it is not stories of muggings, then rocks come flying through open windows.”
|||Cape Town - A brawl and other violence have prompted commuters on Metrorail’s southern line to lambaste the train service for reversing recent improvements in security in the service.
Troy Changfoot, whose stabbing in a train carriage received coverage in the Cape Argus last September, said things were back to “normal” on the southern line.
“By normal, I mean that people are again commuting in fear. I have heard of a number of violent incidents and witnessed one on Monday. It is massively disappointing. All the security improvements that were made after I went public with my story have been reversed in a few short weeks,” he complained.
In August last year Changfoot was stabbed in his leg by a teenage muggers en route from Muizenberg to Lakeside station. The attackers jammed the door to the next carriage behind them as they made off with Changfoot’s laptop. He had to raise the alarm by shouting for help from a window at Steenberg station, where security guards attended to him.
On Thursday a regular commuter from Fish Hoek to Rosebank, who asked to be identified only as Elizabeth, told the Cape Argus about the continuing violence, crime and fear on the line.
“We are tired of this. Something needs to be done. If it is not stories of muggings, then rocks come flying through open windows of the moving train outside Retreat station.”
An argument that turned physical, between commuters and a suspected mugger, prompted Elizabeth to speak out. On Monday, a man was walking around the train and sitting next to women, making abusive remarks and rubbing up against them “inappropriately”.
“A number of women got very freaked out and moved down the carriage, away from the man. I heard at least one woman asking for a group of other people to protect her from the man,” Elizabeth said.
Changfoot, who was in the same carriage as Elizabeth at the time, corroborated her story.
“From the moment he got on, I could tell by his behaviour that he had sinister motives. He was walking around, then moving from seat to seat checking people out and harassing women. When he and Elizabeth were arguing (she had told him to get off) it looked for a second as though he would assault her. There was not a security guard in sight during the whole journey - there rarely is.”
Another commuter stepped up and grabbed the man by his collar and a fist fight broke out. At St James station, passengers opened the doors and the scuffle continued on the platform before security guards arrived a few minutes later.
Metrorail’s response to the Cape Argus did not specifically deal with the incidence of crime on the southern line.
Mthuthuzeli Swartz, regional manager of Western Cape Metrorail, said he was concerned at reports of “recent incidents”.
He re-issued an appeal to commuters to report any incidents or suspicious behaviour immediately.
He said security deployment was determined weekly during a joint planning meeting between Metrorail Protection Services and the Railway Police. Metrorail offers a reward of up to R25 000 for information leading to a conviction.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus