Opinion / Editorials EDITORIAL: Playing with toy trains as SA burns As usual, the garrulous transport minister Fikile Mbalula seems not to be thinking at all BL PREMIUM

Vision is one thing, wasteful dreaming quite another. Last week, transport minister Fikile Mbalula spoke in parliament of how "we shall commission a full feasibility study and financing models to achieve this collective dream" of running bullet trains across the country.It was a sop to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who in his state of the nation address fantasised about building such a network. But Mbalula’s reaction suggests that yet again, money will be diverted to a pet project in a country where the real priorities couldn’t be more stark.Of course it would be very nice to have bullet trains linking Gauteng with Durban and Cape Town. But their construction and operation would bankrupt the country. With Eskom and SAA already vying to do that, another cash-guzzling white elephant is the last thing we need.As usual, the garrulous Mbalula seems not to be thinking at all. Former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama floated the bullet train idea nearly a decade ago. Then, as now, it was completely...