Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president had a taste of public service glitch as a metro train he boarded on Monday morning failed to take off on time.
South Africa president stranded aboard public train
The exact reason for the over two-hour delay was not immediately clear but it forced the president to bemoan its effect on routine of commuters and productivity.
Ramaphosa was commuting from Soshanguve to the capital Pretoria where he was supposed to join a meeting of the top brass of the ruling African National Congress, ANC.
Read more: [Photos] South Africa president opts for commercial flight on official trip
EARLIER: President CyrilRamaphosa boarding a Metro- rail train from Soshanguve to Pretoria #GrowSouthAfrica #Thuma pic.twitter.com/UKY0KqDoQs
— #GrowSouthAfrica (MYANC) March 18, 2019
“We are going to take steps to change this situation because our people deserve the best,” the president said. He was on the train with other ANC officials, his security detail and Premier of the Guateng Province.
“The way people are transported is not ideal, this not how we want to see working people being transported, some of them are students and some of them are job seekers. You just really destroy their enthusiasm about getting into a public transportation system like this.
“I am glad that I came and I have seen for myself. We are going to take steps to change the situation,” the president added. The president said he will intervene in the issue via the Transport Minister.
In his campaign attire, the president routinely interacted with commuters at the station as he prepared to board the metro, whiles on board; his interactions with the public continued.
After hours of delay, he was shown seeking answers from the conductor. When the train finally took off, he received a call from with the head of the rails apologizing for the inconvenience.
We reached our destination, the President arrived at 06:30 at Mapobane station and arrives at Pretoria station at 10:40.
This again affirms government’s need to clean our SOEs including PRASA for the benefit of all our people. #GrowSouthAfrica #ThumaMina pic.twitter.com/kKSYjrdVNn— #GrowSouthAfrica (@MYANC) March 18, 2019