A half page advert in Business Day on Tuesday replying to criticism of Metrorail and its cash flow by Democratic Alliance deputy spokesperson on transport Manny de Freitas, is little more than a plea to the Minister of Transport, Sbu Ndebele, for more money, according to De Freitas.

"Under the guise of a response to the Democratic Alliance, (the advert) is a methodical and quite powerful plea to the Minister of Transport for more money," De Freitas said. "In other words, in an ostensible attack on the DA, Mr (Lucky) Montana (chief executive of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Metrorail's parent company) has said out in no uncertain terms the very real and fundamental funding crisis facing Prasa now and in the future."

Among other things, Montana explains that through no fault of Prasa, but as a result of sustained under-funding Prasa have found themselves in dire financial straits. He lists, amongst other grounds, the following reasons for Prasa's financial impasse: "For over five years, no approval was granted for Metrorail to increase fares. This simply means that Metrorail services have become un-economical.

Increase in electricity prices

"A due-diligence report on Shosholoza Meyl has revealed that Prasa would require about R1.4-billion per annum to run its business effectively. However, only R450-million per annum is provided to Prasa to run this service.

"The increase in electricity prices will cost Prasa between R210-million and R340-million against a budget of R248-million.

De Freitas explains that Montana is saying that, despite every effort on the part of himself and his organisation to streamline their systems and properly spend their money, the fundamental nature of the problem (years of poor funding) means they are operating on the red line every day and that situation is not something Prasa itself can control.

"I believe the advert to be deeply significant and a frank and open admission that the ANC government has generated and fostered a situation in which many of our key public institutions simply cannot continue to survive," De Freitas said. "It is an indictment of the way in which the ANC administration has approached our infrastructure.

Prasa joins, Eskom, the RTMC, Denel, the SABC, Sentech, the Land Bank, the Post Office, SAA and various other critical state institutions that are severely financially compromised, as a result of neglect and poor planning and fruitless and wasteful expenditure."