PRASA was formally established in December 2008, when the President signed the Legal Succession Act into law. This completed the consolidation of the various entities (Metrorail, Autopax, Shosholoza Meyl, and Intersite) into PRASA from what were the South African Rail Commuter Corporation and Transnet.

South Africa has never had a brilliant commuter train service. Under apartheid, black people had the indignity of being forced to sit in separate, inferior carriages (the remnants of that system still remain, euphemistically called Metrorail vs Metrorail Plus). But in the late 1990s, the service was competent enough that we should have expected Metrorail in our major cities to be world-class by today.

In 2022 Cape Town commuters stand anxiously on platforms that are operational, trying to estimate whether they should risk waiting as there was always a crowd waiting to board a train. But every day the trains don’t run properly. A service that used to work (sort of) has now been in chaos.

Faulty booms at crossings and train drivers have to wait for manual authorization which causes more delays.

Over the past couple of years, arson attacks have destroyed dozens of carriages and overhead wires above platforms in Cape Town.

The rail agency now has to contend with billions of rand in damages to its infrastructure as most of its stations are not guarded after security contracts were terminated.

The extensive vandalism on the network, Langa, Netreg, and especially in Gauteng, Roodepoort Benoni ranges from stolen overhead electric lines and tracks to damaged coaches.

But given the scale of the damages, plus commuter demands and financial hardships, there are questions about how it will increase capacity.

We looking at excessive force used by police against unarmed citizens. Police brutality that still plagues South African communities seems to be embedded in a police culture that still embraces the use of force and violence as operational tools.

The rights of the queer community have been trampled upon since time immemorial. Whilst other nations have learnt to accept people for who they are, the Arab countries and most African countries have gone a step further and criminalized the LGBTI+ community.

South Africa is still doing a balancing act between its strong constitutional commitment to protect Gay and gender rights and its solidarity with the largely homophobic Africa.

In 1995 South Africa became the first country in the world to include sexual orientation as a human right. But Queer employees still face discrimination at work throughout their working lives.

From time to time especially during economic recession periods in South Africa, xenophobia keeps rearing its ugly head and it is directed at African nationals.

The Xenophobes have organised themselves and the attacks are becoming more and more violent. Many of the xenophobic attacks specifically targeted black foreigners,  often stereotyping them as criminals, drug dealers and generally unsavoury, untrustworthy individuals

The truck driving industry has been the most consistent in xenophobia with SA truck drivers organising themselves against African migrant driver

Since the 1800’s Mayday marked the importance of Labour and workers in our society. But most employers and several

Governments have always been opposed to Mayday. For them, it was the start of a serious challenge to their capitalist system, by the workers and their organizations such as trade unions and political parties.

In South Africa, workers celebrate the role played by Trade Unions, the Communist Party and other labour movements in the struggle against apartheid. Following the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, May 1st was inaugurated as an official national public holiday.

 Mayday is the day to celebrate solidarity amongst workers, but we have seen very little of that. What we have seen is disunity, which is quickly bordering on crises, as a former NUMSA deputy SG Karl Cloete put it in his column in daily Maverick “In South Africa, the most powerful trade unions are on the brink of collapse because of the introduction of investment companies into the trade union movement” there are also multiple reasons why unions movement is in the verge of collapse

The ride-sharing service Uber has experienced the most rapid rise in recent years, taking over traditional transport markets across the world and is very profitable with the CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi raking in millions of dollars every year. In Africa, digital e-hailing platforms like UBER and others like Taxify or Bolt and lately DiDi in Johannesburg and FastaFasta in Dar es Salaam have entered the passenger transport markets of major cities, taking over big market share

In South Africa, there is legislation to compensate workers who are affected by workplace accidents and diseases, the Compensation for Injuries and Diseases ACT COIDA. Initially, COIDA excluded domestic workers. Domestic workers struggled against this discrimination and succeeded in 2018. Domestic workers are now covered by COIDA for accidents and diseases caused by work in their employers’ private homes. This was a major breakthrough for working-class women since the overwhelming majority of domestic workers are women.

The International Labour Organisation's primary goal is to promote opportunities for men and women to get decent work that is safe, and secure and retains their dignity. The protection of workers against work-related sickness, disease and injury, is part of the Constitution of the ILO. At all times mistakes, accidents, oversights and injuries can happen even in the safest workplaces.

In South Africa, there is legislation to compensate workers who are affected by workplace accidents and diseases, the Compensation for Injuries and Diseases ACT (COIDA). Initially, COIDA excluded domestic workers so, they struggled against this discrimination and succeeded in 2018. Domestic workers are now covered by COIDA for accidents and diseases caused by work in their employers’ private homes. This was a major breakthrough for working-class women since the overwhelming majority of domestic workers are women.