South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa may have hoped that joining the morning commute would mark him out as a man of the people ahead of elections in May.
That plan has either backfired or worked, depending on how you view it.
He and other passengers were stuck on a train for four hours on a journey that should have taken 45 minutes.
“It is unacceptable,” President Ramaphosa said after the train reached its destination.
He said the national rail operator, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), had to act to improve the situation “otherwise heads will roll”.
Train delays are a daily frustration for millions of South Africa’s railway users and some have lost jobs because of late arrivals at work, says the BBC’s Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg.
Angered commuters have even set trains alight, our reporter adds.
The delay to the train the president caught in Gauteng province was caused by another train that had to stop after its driver was hit by a stone which had been thrown at him, a Prasa spokesman said.
He also blamed “ongoing and sustained attack on our rail infrastructure by… thugs”.
President Ramaphosa earlier put on a brave face, seen here smiling inside the train carriage:
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
Journalists following the president on the campaign trail tweeted footage and pictures from the scene, where he chatted with commuters:
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
Mr Ramaphosa was hoping to canvass votes for the governing African National Congress (ANC) which he leads after replacing Jacob Zuma last year.
A reporter based in Johannesburg wondered whether the spectacle was “the greatest-ever metaphor for South Africa”.
President Ramaphosa staring out the window of a stalled train: greatest-ever metaphor for South Africa? https://t.co/3qbiikvb5c
— Geoffrey York (@geoffreyyork) March 18, 2019
While an opposition politician quipped: “New driver, same broken old train”.
The metaphor. Ramaphosa in trains that break down daily, but he is all smiles. His face says don’t worry about the broken ANC, vote for for me, not the ANC. Trust me even though it is beyond impossible to fix the ANC, I’m just a passenger here. New driver, same broken old train. pic.twitter.com/Szn3TQ8IX6
— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) March 18, 2019
