The Benoni train station, once a thriving transport hub in Ekurhuleni, has been abandoned for the past six years.
The hopes of getting it back on track have often ended with disappointment as the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) continues to hit financial snags which have derailed the resumption of the once-popular Joburg-Daveyton corridor.
The station’s operations were paused with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which curtailed people’s movements, and resulted in a spike in vandalism as train stations in Gauteng fell victim to cable thieves.
Benoni station was not spared. Trains were sent into storage, and only its broken-down buildings still stand. A security guard is deployed at the premises, but the area has become synonymous with crimes including bag snatching and the dumping of kidnapping victims.
Mohamed* runs a small spaza shop from what was once the station’s ticket office. He took it over from a fellow countryman who died during Covid.
He said his only challenge is to pay a “protection fee” to police who sometimes harass him for not having a permit to run the spaza shop. The fee varies between R1,000 and R2,000, he said, and is collected fortnightly.
“I pay them, and they protect me because this area is not safe, as you can see. I’m the only business operating here. The previous owner used to pay as well. It’s a tradition,” he said.
Mohamed said an illegal tavern next to his shop was closed down a few months ago by the Ekurhuleni metro police after several complaints of rapes, robberies and stabbing incidents involving customers.
“This area is not safe,” he said. “Criminals sometimes dump bodies here, and women are raped at night when they pass here from work.”
Homeless people have taken over some of the station’s buildings.
Bridget Mohlala said she and her boyfriend occupied one of the rooms to escape the dangers posed to them on the streets.
She used to live under bridges in the area but moved to the station after surviving a stabbing and rape incident.
“We stay here because it’s safer than living on the streets,” she said.
Mohlala recalled an incident where a man was kidnapped and left tied up to die with a gunshot wound at the station.
“I rescued that guy — he didn’t know where he was. He was badly assaulted by the four men who brought him here; luckily, they did not see me because it gets very dark at night here. I untied him and helped him walk to the police station, which is just a block away from the station.”
Although she feels safer at the station than on the street, Mohlala’s fear is that “one day Prasa will fix the station, and I won’t have a home anymore”.
Benoni police spokesperson Nomsa Sekele dismissed allegations of police soliciting bribes from Mohamed.
“Police are working together with the CPF [community policing forum] to investigate any foul play. We are monitoring the station, and there is now security watching the premises daily, and they report any foul activity,” Sekele said.
DA MP Mathew Cuthbert said: “In 2024, I submitted a petition on behalf of the residents of Daveyton and Etwatwa, calling on the National Assembly to investigate vandalism [at Benoni station] and the restoration of a railway network connecting Daveyton to Springs, Benoni, and Johannesburg. I was informed that the train station would be restored between April and September 2025, but nothing has happened.”
He said the estimated cost of restoring the station was R65.5m.
Prasa did not respond to questions sent to them last week.
*Not his real name
Sowetan
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