Transport BRRR

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Transport

18 October 2022
Chairperson: Mr L Mangcu (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Tabled Committee Reports

The Portfolio Committee on Transport convened in Parliament to table and adopt its Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) for the Department of Transport and entities. Members recommended a dedicated person or team to lead the revised Taxi Recapitalisation Programme so that it could be monitored with set performance metrics.

A Member noted that the staff attrition rate of the Department was above the recommended 10% in legislation, and this spoke to the fact that there was no attrition prediction model in the Department. It also meant that there was no optimised talent acquisition and retention strategy and a lack of stability in leadership, which contributed to a toxic working environment and loss of experienced and valuable staff members.

The Committee also discussed the investigative jurisdiction of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), noting that there was a need for clear guidance on who investigated which type of accidents, especially in cases where civilians lost their lives.

The Committee adopted the BRRR and minutes of its September and October meetings. 

Meeting report

Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) of the Portfolio Committee on Transport
The Chairperson asked the Committee Content Advisor to read the introduction of the BRRR report, and the Members to comment thereafter.

Mr T Mabhena (DA) said the Road Accident Fund (RAF) had not submitted its outstanding audit findings when the report was drafted on 13 October, and they had not done so for the past two years, failing to account for over R80 billion of taxpayers' money. The report said the RAF would report only when the judicial review of the dispute with the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) was finalised, but the Department of Transport (DoT) and the Minister had said they instructed the RAF to drop the judicial review issue and account to Parliament. This also needed to be included in the BRRR, even though there was no proof of formal communication from the Department to the RAF. The Committee would also need to be firm with the Department and RAF.

The Chairperson said the report was based on the presentation from the deliberation process, and Mr Mabhena’s point would be included in the observations and recommendation stage. He asked the Content Advisor to continue reading the report.

He asked the Members to comment or make additional recommendations.

Mr Mabhena said the production of the driver’s licence cards must be handled by provincial Departments of Transport, because the life span of the machine that the DoT currently used was going to end soon. There was no communication on the progress of the Infrastructure Procurement and Delivery Management (IPDM) in Polokwane and Gqeberha, which needed to be added to the recommendations. The Revised Taxi Recapitalisation Programme needed a dedicated person or team to lead it so that they could be monitored with set performance metrics, because the programme was not progressing well.

The staff attrition rate of the Department was above the recommended 10% in legislation, and this spoke to the fact that there was no attrition prediction model in the Department. It also meant that there was no optimised talent acquisition and retention strategy and a lack of stability in leadership, which contributed to a toxic working environment and loss of experienced and valuable staff members.

The Chairperson said two Members were likely to leave during the meeting due to urgent matters that they had been informed of while they were in the meeting, and that would threaten the quorum of the Committee and its ability to adopt the report. He asked Members to focus on their recommendations so they could finish within the allocated time.

Mr L McDonald (ANC) asked that the Committee add a recommendation that the Department provide a report to the Committee on the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) mainline services within a certain period. The Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) also desperately needed funding for their virtualised air traffic navigation services. On the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), there was a need for clear guidance on who investigated which type of accidents, especially in cases where civilians lost their lives.

Ms M Ramadwa (ANC) said recommendation 8.1.1.1 regarding filling board member vacancies needed to be more specific. In recommendation 8.1.1.8 regarding the rollout and implementation of a security plan for PRASA, timeframes needed to be included.

Mr C Hunsinger (DA) said he understood Mr McDonald’s suggestion for the SACAA to investigate aircraft accidents, but warned the Committee against looking at matters of state security, as the current regulations restricted and delegated investigations into categories based on the ownership of specific aircraft. Recommendation 8.1.1.7 needed a grammatical change from ‘Driver’s Licence’ to ‘Driving Licence,’ as recognised in legislation.

The Chairperson said the fact that they were the Civil Aviation Authority restricted them to civil aviation incidents.

Ms N Nolutshungu (EFF) said the Department spoke of accessible, safe and universally accessible transport as one of their milestones, but this was not included in the recommendations.

Ms F Khumalo (ANC) said the timelines for the rehabilitation of the N2 and N3 needed to be included in the report, especially because the festive season was beginning.

Mr McDonald said the Airports Company of South Africa’s (ACSA) maintenance budget was extremely low, and asked that it be added as part of the recommendations. He agreed that it might not be in the SACAA’s scope to investigate accidents that happened to state aircraft, but the safety of aircraft, irrespective of their ownership, was SACAA’s responsibility.

Mr Mabhena suggested a grammatical change in recommendation 8.1.1.12. He said the Department and the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) must submit quarterly reports on the progress of the Moloto road and other Moloto Corridor projects.

Mr Hunsinger agreed with the point made by Mr McDonald, and said the solution might be to have an independent investigation department for aircraft crashes and incidents.

The Chairperson said that could be a recommendation to the Minister.

Ms Ramadwa said there were entities that the Committee had not met because they were producing clean audits, but service delivery was still lacking. She suggested that the Committee meet with all the entities under the DoT.

The Chairperson said that would be a recommendation for the Committee to consider in its own programme, not in the BRRR. He asked Members to look at the recommendations to the Minister of Finance and the recommendations to the Minister in the Presidency, and see if they had any changes that they would want to make.

Mr McDonald asked to add infrastructure investment in other entities in the recommendations to the Minister of Finance.

The Chairperson took the Committee through the last paragraphs of the report, and thanked the Members and the Content Advisor.

He asked for a mover for the adoption of the BRRR with the amendments that the Committee had made.

Mr McDonald moved the adoption of the report, and was seconded by Ms Khumalo.

The report was adopted.

Committee matters

The Committee considered and adopted minutes dated 27 September,  and 11, 12 and 13 October.

Mr Mabhena said that when the Committee did an oversight visit to Moloto in April, it had recommended that the Committee Secretariat write three letters -- to the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Finance, and the Chairperson of Committees respectively -- but there had been no response. Was it going to be feasible for the Committee to say they should copy the Committee Secretariat on the issues that affected the Committee, as they would be responding to the Parliamentary question system?

The Chairperson said the meeting he had called was going to be a routine meeting with the Committee support staff, and he would do it regularly. The Committee would also have such meetings to discuss and deal with its outstanding matters, including Mr Mabhena’s concern.

The meeting was adjourned.



 

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