Violent protests over housing spilled over into the rail transport network and affected an estimated 150 000 commuters in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Provincial minister of transport Donald Grant and councillor Brett Herron‚ mayoral committee member of transport for the city condemned the torching of Metrorail trains and destruction of infrastructure.

Protests in Langa flared on Tuesday and resulted in several Metrorail train carriages being set alight. Apparatus cases‚ track boxes‚ and signalling equipment worth millions of rands were damaged.

“Not only have these actions completely crippled the rail network’s operation on the Khayelitsha/Kapteinsklip corridor‚ but they have also threatened the safety of commuters and placed Metrorail employees at risk. On advice from the South African Police Service‚ Metrorail has had to suspend trains from all stations in the central service corridor until further notice‚” they said in a joint statement.

Law-abiding residents‚ they said‚ who left their homes early in the morning to get to work were being held to ransom.

“Over the past several months our critical but ailing commuter rail system has endured relentless attacks that have left the service limping along‚ with devastating consequences for our commuters and our city’s economy‚” they said.

The biggest portion of public transport users rely on rail in the city for their daily commute to and from work.

Grant and Herron urged commuters to use busses in the interim and called on police to arrest the culprits behind the destruction. “We cannot allow this situation to continue indefinitely‚” they said.

— TMG Digital