Nero is fiddling, while Rome burns.
But in this case, we are all Nero in the story and our train service is Rome.
It’s simply not possible that trains can be set alight so often without anyone knowing or seeing anything.
Someone always knows something and hopefully this new task force (which includes Crime Intelligence) that has been set up, is going to be able to get to the bottom of it.
The team was put together over the weekend when several more carriages burnt out at Cape Town Train Station.
It happened twice in a matter of days.
Metrorail is well and truly on the verge of being completely crippled.
This is a company that was already struggling to keep up with the demand, while battling non-stop vandalism.
It had already reached the point where those with transport options were avoiding the trains and making use of those alternatives.
Metrorail manages the lifeline of Cape Town’s economy and, of course, many people continue to blame them for the awful service.
But while they should definitely shoulder some of the blame, the relatives and acquaintances of the perpetrators are equally, if not more, guilty of being complicit.
Train carriages don’t spontaneously combust!
Someone with some sinister motive goes there with something combustible and strikes a match.
That person is threatening our livelihoods, destroying our infrastructure (which we are all going to have to pay to repair or replace) and causing us mass anxiety.
And someone knows who that person is.
People also know the individuals who steal Metrorail’s cables, causing massive delays every single day.
And let’s just face facts.
We can’t want cheap train tickets and still expect Metrorail to pay for around-the-clock security at every train station, in every carriage and along every piece of train track across the Peninsula.
This nonsense has to stop.
So you simply have to piemp those responsible, including the scrap metal dealers who buy the loot from the thieves.
If they don’t have a buyer, then they will stop stealing the products.
Yes, I know people are angry at the government for all sorts of things.
And I understand that people are desperate and hungry and looking for ways to feed their families.
All of that makes sense. But I also don’t believe that it’s the honest people who are responsible.
They find other, honest ways to survive.
I believe these are young druggies, who simply don’t care for the greater wellbeing of the community.
As for the trains being torched, I am still trying to figure out what the motive could be.
Is it political; as in, destabilise a key infrastructure ahead of elections?
Or is it economic; as in, forcing people to spend their money on other modes of transport?
Or just a deranged arsonist intent in spreading fear and chaos?
Whatever the reason, I hope that those who know these cowardly culprits will stop fiddling, piemp them and save Rome from burning because us regular folk are tired of being used as pawns.