The leader of the red berets Julius Malema received a warm welcome on a very cold morning in uMlazi, South of Durban. As part of his campaign Melema boarded a train from uMlazito Berea train station in order to interact with the commuters, also to see and experienced the challenges faced by residents on daily bases when making their way to the industrial places.
Although party members expected their leader to arrive at 06:00am in order to catch the first train, he arrived shortly after it left, he then boarded the second and as it moves to other stations the more it got packed. In the train some commuters were just excited to be in presence of their leader and to take pictures with him, while others had complaints about how much struggles they face daily especially on trains as well.
Commuters told Malema that these trains are delaying on different days they get to work late and they also get home late, “Commander we leave our houses very early to get the first or second train however by the time it gets here it is already packed because commuters from other stations board on first and sit in the train as it makes its U-turn at the uMlzaitrain station because they don’t have a choice or any other form of transport, trains affordable that is why we use them.” One of the commuters said.
I then ask Malema that as part of his experience in a train, what are some of the changes will he implement or change, and he replied “We should put more trains that are reliable, in good conditions in order to avoid overcrowding and delays, because to see kids and parents arriving late at their destinations, it’s heart breaking because you can see that they like this mode of transport because it’s affordable.
Malema then took a walk from Berea station where he made his way to MNR taxi rank while distributing pamphlets with the provincial chairperson of the party in KwaZulu-Natal VusiKhoza, he then headed to Kwa Mashu in the north of Durban and he is also expected to address students at the Durban University of Technology this afternoon.
