A good week for Barbara Creecy
Transport minister Barbara Creecy basked in the glow of approval for her invitation to private business to revive South Africa’s almost nonexistent passenger train services. Last week she unveiled a new round of requests to business to suggest solutions to help run a railroad. Among these is a smooth ticket operation that could eliminate long queues. Her proposal is a positive step, but it’s uncertain how her party, the ANC, might respond to a move even slightly removed from state control. Also, the last time the government tried to bring private business in to help the railways, it was allowed to wither through lack of interest by the then ruling party.
A bad week for Monde Nzima
Monde Nzima, a lawyer from Mthatha, seems to think he’s Lewis Hamilton. On August 2, the 32-year-old was caught in a speed trap on the N2 near Scottburgh but failed to stop when traffic police waved him down. He was finally persuaded to slow down and pull over by police cars in hot pursuit. Last week Nzima was convicted of travelling at 220km/h in a 120km/h zone in his Mercedes C200 and fined R40,000 — or 24 months in jail. He will have to pay only half the amount, the other half coming into play if he is convicted of a similar offence in the next five years.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.