The impact of illegally occupied
railway land on rail safety in
South Africa
IRSC 2013 Vancouver
Presenter: Nkululeko Poya (CEO)
RSR principles
 Promoting and providing for the safety of the
public and personnel, and the protection of
property and the environment
 Encouraging the collaboration and participation of
interested parties in improving railway safety
 Recognizing the responsibility of railway
companies in ensuring the safety of their
operation
 Facilitating a modern, flexible, and efficient
regulatory scheme that will ensure the continuing
enhancement of railway safety
Problem Statement
Witnessed the mushrooming of informal settlements
alongside railway lines after 1994
Statutes dictates that you may not evict communities
unless you have alternative property to resettle them
Proximity to train operations exposes communities to
severe danger
Negative impact on safety, security, operations and
assets integrity
Fencing structures have been vandalised/removed
Increasing likelihood of accidents
Impact on Safety
 Increased risk of accidents
 Uncontrolled pedestrian crossing of lines
 Health hazards to employees, passengers and
inhabitants of settlements
 Illegal level crossings (vehicles)
 Hazardous goods transported by rail – ammonia
gas, fertilizers, diesel, explosives, disastrous
consequences when train derail
Operational Risks
 Negatively impacts Train Schedule (Interruptions/speed
restrictions, cancellation due to accidents, crime)
 Uncontrolled access to rail reserves – illegal vehicles
crossings, pedestrians walking along lines
 Crime (obstructions on railway line, theft, damaging
signals)
 Almost impossible to get emergency vehicles into
informal settlements
 Delay in emergency and clean-up operations
Impact on slum dwellers
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Death or injury in case of accidents/hazmat
incident
Children grow up next to rail – no natural fear for
moving trains
Lack of basic services (sanitation, water)
Damage to structures in case of accidents
Soil and water pollution due to human and
household waste within the rail reserve
The SA Constitution
Chapter 2 Section 26 of the constitution states:
 (1) Everyone has the right to have access to
adequate housing
 (2) The state must take reasonable
legislative and other measures within its
available resources, to achieve the
progressive realisation of this right
 (3) No one may be evicted from their home,
or have their home demolished, without an
order of the court made after considering all
the relevant circumstances. No legislation
may permit arbitrary evictions
Millennium Developmental
Goals (MDGs)
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Goal 7 Target 11
Slogan: “Cities Without Slums”
Improvement of at least 100 million slums
by 2020
Challenges
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Legal process (very messy & long)
Dependency on municipalities for alternative
housing as required by the PIE Act
Limited capacity (manpower, funds & land
availability)
Community resistance
Pressure from international slum dweller
organisations
Prevention of Illegal Eviction
Act(PIE) Clause 6
“ If an unlawful occupier has occupied the land in
question for less than six months at the time when
the proceedings are initiated, a court may grant an
order for eviction if it is of the opinion that it is just
an equitable to do so, after considering all the
relevant circumstances, including the rights and
needs of the elderly, children, disabled persons
and households headed by women”
South African Housing Code
“No one should be evicted from their settlements
without alternative accommodation that is close
to their existing settlements and people should
be moved to serviced land"
Legal process
Minimum Time Lapse = 46 weeks + 2 days
Prepare Memo to
General Council to
outsource to external
attorney
•
2 weeks
Issue and serve
founding Notice of
Motion
Conduct
survey
4 weeks
Outsource and brief
identified attorneys
1 day
2 weeks
Approach the court
and request leave to
proceed in terms of
PIE/method of service
8 weeks
Draft application
for eviction
Pleading phase –
replying affidavits and
answering affidavits
4 weeks
6 weeks
Brief council to
settle affidavits
Apply for date of
hearing – matter set
down on court role
1 day
12 weeks
Further
consult with
Muni
Establish contact with
municipality, ward
councillor/s and do
IRMA notification
6 weeks
2 weeks
Is just a problem for railway
operators?
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Parenting problem
Policing problem
Social problem
Global problem (slum dwellers are more
globalised than railway companies)
Our approach: Stakeholderorientation governance
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“If we can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the
tourists” Sir William Van Horne
The RSR’s approach is:
If we can’t export the slum dwellers, we’ll import
best practices such as stakeholder-orientation
governance
How we did it?
 First phase: RSR and TFR embarked on a joint
venture where we both went to the ‘hot sports’ in
the railway reserve in order to get first hand
information.
 Second phase: RSR independently conducted a
survey in one of the squatter camp in the spirit of
the slum dweller’s slogan: “We are the people. We
are the problems. And we are the solution”
Phase three: roll out plans
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Intervention from legislature and cabinet
Community awareness and participation
Legislative amendments:
The very wide interpretation of the applicability of
the PIE Act
 PIE to clarify at what stage an informal structure
can still be demolished without a court order, and
what stage it can still be considered to be
trespassing
 Responsibility of SAPS to act when a new land
invasion is reported
Phase three: roll out plans
 Carve out regulations that won’t contradict the
MDG as well as the UN-Habitat criteria on housing
 Educate the judiciary, municipalities and the
provincial government about rail safety.
 Sensitise the International Union of Railway that
the problem of slum dwellers is a global problem
and that slum dwellers have both national as well
as international remedies and this puts the railway
companies in an awkward position. In a nutshell,
slum dwellers are more globalised than their
railway counterparts.
T.S. Elliot’s lines
“We shall not cease from exploring,
And the end of our exploring,
Will be to arrive where we started,
And know the place for the first time”
THANK YOU
Presented by:
Nkululeko Poya
nkululekop@rsr.org.za
THANK YOU VERY MUCH