President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday experienced first hand the daily struggles of commuters after being stuck for hours on a train with disgruntled commuters while on the election campaign trail.
Ramaphosa and the commuters boarded the train at Mabopane Station in Pretoria before 08:00. The train was more than an hour late.
On the way to Bosman Station, where Ramaphosa later disembarked, the train got stuck twice - at Marabastad and Technikon Rant stations - adding another two hours to the travelling time of passengers.
Tired of waiting, some of the commuters jumped off the train and walked to their work places while the president remained put.
Ramaphosa was accompanied by Gauteng Premier David Makhura, while some leaders went to various train stations across Tshwane as part of the elections campaign.
At Bosman station, the party leaders addressed the crowds who had been eagerly waiting for them.
"This is unfair to our people, our trains are late and not getting people to work on time, we are going to have a meeting with PRASA," said Makhura.
Ramaphosa told the crowd that he witnessed himself first hand the conditions that people had to deal with on a daily basis.
"People are complaining that there are thugs in the trains and we can confirm that there is no security in these trains," Ramaphosa said.
"The train was slow, had unexplained stops. It is therefore unacceptable that a 50km trip can take us three hours and it must come to an end. We are going to talk to PRASA and tell them that they must get this right."
Ramaphosa said fixing the conditions of the trains is one of the party's mandates because it has a negative impact on the economy.
"People who use trains are bound to be in trouble, they get fired, they get warnings and get disciplined because of late coming."
Ramaphosa also assured the crowd that they are working on the current load shedding challenge which has been going on for more than a month.