Who would benefit from vandalising?

WHEN I read with horror how many millions of rands of damage are caused regularly by mindless vandals and arsonists who destroy railway carriages, I can’t help thinking how many armed guards could have been employed for that amount of money.

Surely the destruction would be reduced if there were guards on the trains, maybe carrying two-way radios and armed with batons and pepper spray, patrolling every journey. As things are, nobody in authority seems to be there when the vandalism occurs. Are there no security people around when graffiti squirters spray an entire carriage with great blobs of meaningless mess?

Even those of us who own modest family vehicles worth a fraction of the cost of a railway carriage know we have to protect them against thieves and vandals at night. What makes the railway bosses think they can leave a multi-million rand train untended all night and expect to find it undamaged in the morning? What planet are they from?

Friends who have used the trains in recent months have told me they are in an unbelievably scruffy state, with rude messages and slogans daubed everywhere, seats slashed and the foam stolen out of them, windows so dirty and scratched you can hardly see out of them and trash everywhere.

The suburban train service does not fall under the control of the Western Cape government, which is rather a pity. Our province is in better shape than most of the rest of the country. The railways are the responsibility of the central government.

I ask myself who would benefit from dirty vandalised and inefficient trains? The taxi industry? Maybe. The opponents of the DA-led local government? I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a concerted move by opposition politicians to make the Cape look bad before the next elections.

There doesn’t seem to be any depth to which a politician will not stoop. (Actually that would be a waste of effort, really, because the DA seem intent on making themselves look rather silly with their constant squabbles.) Could it simply be a case of “broken window” syndrome? It’s been shown in cities all over the world that if a building has one broken window that isn’t repaired quickly, it doesn’t take long for the rest of the building to be vandalised. Repair that first window and people seem to respect the rest.

When angry, probably jobless, people get on board a dirty, damaged train, might they not say to themselves: “This train’s a mess anyway, so a few more smashes and tears won’t make much difference.”

Last Laugh

A city youngster went to stay with his uncle on the farm for the university holidays. On the first morning the farmer came into his room very early and shook him awake.

“Get up,” he said. “I want you to come and help me with the barley harvest.” “Is barley dangerous?” mumbled the sleepy lad. “No, of course not,” said his uncle. “So why do we have to sneak up on it in the dark?” asked the lad.