Angry commuters attacked Prasa staff and vandalised Metrorail property after they claim officials failed to warn them about delays or offer an explanation.
There were long queues at both the Cape Town taxi rank and Gold Arrow and MyCiTi bus stations as commuters tried to find alternative transport home.
It all started with a comment here and there on Facebook and other social media from early afternoon as confused people sat on trains going nowhere at nearly every station on the Cape Flats.
As it got closer to rush hour starting at 4pm, commuters in the Cape Town CBD started getting upset as the queues grew longer with no trains in sight.
One commuter says there was no warning, only an announcement that trains had been delayed by between 2 and 3 hours.
One commuter from Kalksteenfontein said he usually gets home by 4pm, but after a three-hour wait, decided to board a taxi at 7pm on Monday night.
Bernie Leo, 28 says he was shocked to see the people start to fight with staff at Cape Town station.
A Prasa vehicle was tipped over, rubbish bins emptied and turnstile glass shattered.
“Nobody knew what was happening and people were moody. It’s pwasa, nobody wants to be late home,” he says.
“People got agitated and started attacking the officials and then the building, they broke the turnstiles and flipped a Prasa car. Fights broke out everywhere,” says Leo.
Zainup Davis, 40, travelling on the Southern Line said she was shoved and pushed. She fell a few times but says people “just walked over” her trying to get into the station.
“Officials were shouting at us to find alternative routes, why after two hours? I don’t buy a ticket to get stuck. We are being taken for fools,” said the Parkwood mother.
Two trains were also torched.
#CTTrainStation train set alight @GroundUp_News pic.twitter.com/PpVQbapBJE
— Ashraf Hendricks (@AshrafRSA) June 12, 2017
Metrorail spokeswoman Riana Scott did not respond to queries on Monday night.
Earlier, at 4.20pm, Metrorail Western Cape tweeted about delays on nearly all the lines.
“Service Alert 12/06/17. Technical problem at Woltemade and Maitland and between Ysterplaat and Mutual impacts afternoon peak service.Technicians are on site. Commuters are advised of variable delays of 60+ minutes on the central line, Cape Flats line Northern line and Southern Line. Commuters are advised to listen to public address announcements as some Northern Line trains will be re-routed to operate via Monte Vista and the Cape Flats Line trains will operate on the Southern Line.”
But Zainup says people on the station weren’t aware of these announcements.
“They lying man. They never said to make alternative plans. I would have gone home with a taxi or a bus,” she says.