South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was among hundreds of passengers stuck on a train, after the locomotive reportedly stopped for hours for no apparent reason.
Updates of the event were tweeted by journalists who accompanied Mr Ramaphosa, who is currently campaigning for South Africa’s upcoming elections in the northern province of Guateng.
President Cyril Ramaphosa describes his almost 2 hour train drive from Mabopane station to Bosman in the Pta CBD as a harrowing experience saying people were squashed, the train was delayed for an hour with no security #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/BZCZxj5Kbm
— Ntebo Mokobo (@MokoboNtebo) March 18, 2019
“We saw for ourselves the trains are late. They stop for nothing. We saw how trains never arrive on time. This was an unannounced visit,” local media reported Ramaphosa saying.
Following the massive delay, questions were raised about whether the incident was connected to the widespread power outages currently gripping the country.
Power giant Eskom says that load shedding is expected to last at least to the middle of this week, severely disrupting daily life across South Africa.
Some passengers climbed out of the train in search of alternative means of transport, while traders took advantage of the delays to sell goods to frustrated passengers.
President Ramaphosa chatting with frustrated commuters after a train stopped half-way with no reason given for a delay. The president is on the ANC campaign trail #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/IUDExWCkzC
— Ntebo Mokobo (@MokoboNtebo) March 18, 2019
