Hon Chairperson, hon members, members of the Transport family, ladies and gentlemen, there is no doubt that infrastructure in general, and specifically transport infrastructure, plays a major role in the economic and social development of a country.
Furthermore, as Ferreira and Khatami, 1966, argue: investment in social and economic infrastructure will play an important role in increasing the productivity of labour and business, equally providing a platform for job creation.
President Jacob Zuma, in his 2011 state of the nation address, highlighted that despite the economic growth in the past 10 years, poverty and unemployment still persist. I quote him: "To address these concerns, we have declared 2011 a year of job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth."
Transport, and its related infrastructure, is a catalyst for economic growth and for direct and indirect job creation in South Africa. The provision of reliable, sustainable and safe transportation of people and goods from place to place is critical to the transformation of our country.
After decades of established urban planning and development, with rural communities being marginalised and left on the peripheries, the current changing human settlement patterns and economic challenges call on us to reconnect communities with each other, and with economic opportunities and social amenities to ensure that we develop sustainable communities. To address this challenge will require an integrated and collective effort by all spheres of government: national, provincial and local.
An effective and safe public transport system will reduce costs and create job opportunities. At the same time, it will increase the quality of life of our communities, a priority of government.
The tasks before all spheres of government responsible for the various transport modes are numerous, ranging from budget constraints to ageing transport infrastructure and commuter demands. Notwithstanding these challenges, government continues to aggressively address the transport sector's needs.
Let me reflect on a few flagship projects and programmes that have been implemented and that will have a positive impact on the transport sector modes.
The completion of the ultramodern, state-of-the-art Gautrain rapid rail network - Link 1 between Sandton and O R Tambo International Airport opened in June 2010 and Link 2 from Johannesburg to Pretoria to be opened in June 2011 - ushers in a new era in public transportation, matching world standards for rapid rail transport. By travelling at 180 kilometres per hour, taking 38 minutes from Johannesburg to Pretoria, the Gautrain will set a benchmark for such future developments in South Africa.
The question one now asks is: Where do we go from here? The SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, will continue to implement its mandate to improve, manage and maintain the national road network to ensure that the roads function properly.
Prasa, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, having identified the current state of the ageing rolling stock, have embarked on an 18-year new rolling stock acquisition programme. Valued at R86 billion over 18 years, a total of 718 new train sets will be procured over this period.
Of importance is the local content requirement target of 65%, the up- skilling of local engineers and the creation of both direct and indirect jobs. This programme will create 100 000 jobs and develop skilled and semi- skilled people, within the fields related to the manufacturing and maintenance of the rolling stock. The modernisation of our network, with particular interventions in addressing the signalling systems and the rolling stock, is a priority.
In addition to this allocation, an additional R32 billion is allocated over the next three years, with R19,5 billion ring-fenced for capital spending to upgrade existing infrastructure, signalling systems and rolling stock. This will have a direct, positive impact on community safety and comfort.
Other key strategic projects of importance have been identified. These include the Durban-to-Johannesburg Corridor. This is a multi-agency structure comprising Gauteng, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provincial governments, the eThekwini Municipality, the Johannesburg Municipality, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of Public Enterprises.
The structure will drive the development of passenger and freight services on the Durban-to-Johannesburg Corridor. It will also consider improvements to the Durban Port, the future use of the old Durban international airport site, and the Harrismith, Cato Ridge and Johannesburg City Deep logistical hubs.
Our vision is of an Africa that has a transport infrastructure that facilitates the movement of goods and people by road and rail, effectively connecting with our neighbours in the Southern African region.
The successful implementation of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System, currently transporting 30 000 people per day, was awarded the "Encouragement Award" by the International Association of Public Transport in Dubai in May 2011.
Another achievement of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System relates to the empowerment of the taxi industry. Earlier this year, the taxi industry in Johannesburg became a 66% shareholder of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System Company. This constitutes one of the most significant broad-based black economic empowerment transactions that our country has seen in the transport sector.
The importance of the "just in time road maintenance" system in terms of which efficiency is increased and waste decreased by procurement of materials only as they are needed requires effective monitoring of the road conditions. This will be achieved by establishing the Road Asset Management System, Rams, and introducing the "Know your network" programme, which consists of regional engineers in all provinces daily monitoring road conditions including any possible overnight damage. This is so that we do not have a regional engineer who does not know the road network in his or her own region.
The Department of Transport's flagship project, "S'hamba Sonke - "Moving Together", will see the Department of Transport launching a new roads upgrade and maintenance initiative to fix and upgrade the entire secondary road network of South Africa. The programme will create new opportunities for emerging contractors and jobs across the country. In addition, 68 675 jobs, skilled and semi-skilled, will be created through this programme.
The ring-fenced conditional grant will be implemented in the following five key areas: the rehabilitation of key arterial routes in support of the rural economy through labour-intensive projects; prioritising the use of labour-absorptive construction methods; fixing potholes on our roads; creating access roads to schools and clinics; and public social infrastructure.
The S'hamba Sonke programme has been allocated R22 billion for the current MTEF cycle, with the allocation for 2011-12 being R6,4 billion. Business plans have been received from all provinces supported by all the MECs. We have agreed further with the MECs that to ensure implementation and monitoring of this programme, by June this year project management units will be in place in all provinces to effectively manage the S'hamba Sonke programme.
For the 2011-12 financial year, the allocations to provinces are as follows: KwaZulu-Natal R1,2 billion, creating 22 278 jobs; the Eastern Cape R1 billion, creating 20 000 jobs; Mpumalanga R1 billion, creating 8 346 jobs; Limpopo R934 million, creating 4 432 jobs; Gauteng R566 million, creating 3 800 jobs; the Free State R447 million, creating 5 693 jobs; the Western Cape R411 million, creating 597 jobs; the Northern Cape R308 million, creating 741 jobs; and the North West R501 million, creating 2 142 jobs. The total is R6,4 billion, creating 68 675 jobs.
The Minister will report quarterly to Treasury, while the provinces will report to the Department of Transport monthly. Some of the key projects provinces have targeted in response to the S'hamba Sonke programme framework are as follows. Regarding Mpumalanga: maintenance of the R33 Road between Stoffberg and Belfast at a cost of R24 million; and the upgrade of the 40-kilometre road project from White River to Ntsikazi at a cost of approximately R16 million.
Projects that have been highlighted in Limpopo include: household routine maintenance, engaging 27 contractors at R237 million and attending to 8 100 kilometres; fixing access roads at a cost of R60 million; and a pothole patching project on 220 kilometres of roads at a cost of R174 million.
Gauteng projects include: the reseal on the N14 from Krugersdorp to Klieveskraal at a cost of R55,8 million; the reseal of the Ben Schoeman from Pretoria to the N1 for R10 million; and the upgrade on the P126 - M1 - on 8,54 kilometres for R11 million.
With regard to the Northern Cape, there are the following projects: household road maintenance - Bak-klor-us to ...
The word is pronounced "Bath-loaros", Minister.
Bath-loaros. The money will get there. By the time the money has been used, I will have learnt to pronounce the word properly! So, it is Bathloaros to Maphinik - 26 kilometres for R7 million; road maintenance between Victoria West and Calvinia, 387 kilometres for R18 million; and the reseal of Douglas to Kimberley, 18 kilometres for R22 million.
In terms of the Western Cape there is the: Overberg regravelling at R43 million; Malmesbury to Hopefield reseal for R51 million; and the De Rust to N9 reseal for R54 million. Regarding the Eastern Cape: household contractor programme of approximately R200 million over three years; and emerging contractor and consultant development for R500 million over three years. In KwaZulu-Natal there is the Nongoma-Dabhazi-Hlambanyathi-Hlabisa- Corridor at R270 million - it is a Greenfield project; and the Eshowe- Ntumeni-Kranskop-Vryheid Corridor at R2 billion.
South Africa's road network comprises 750 000 kilometres, 593 000 kilometres of which is gravel network managed by provinces, metros and municipalities. One hundred and fifty-four thousand kilometres is paved and managed across all spheres, and 140 000 kilometres of the network is still to be proclaimed. It is a worry for the Department of Transport that we have 140 000 kilometres that are fatherless and motherless.
Most of our road network has reached its design lifespan, hence failure to budget for road maintenance would, in time, cost the country more in the replacement and rebuilding of the network.
In addition to the projects listed, the department will continue with our national roads upgrade programme. The following are prioritised projects that will be implemented in the current year: Mpophoni in Port St Johns at a cost of R27 million and 289 jobs will be created; Matheko River Road construction at a cost of R36 million and 163 jobs will be created; and the N1/N2 Winelands Project at a cost of R10 billion and 1 150 jobs will be created.
On the issue of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, on 11 May 2011 South Africa participated in the launch of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 to 2020. The Decade of Action programme seeks to reduce by 50% the number of road deaths and reduce the carnage on our roads. At least 1,3 million people are killed annually on the world's roads, and 14 000 perish on South African roads every year. Road deaths affect all of us.
Worldwide, as in South Africa, the Decade of Action for Road Safety commits us to developing and enforcing legislation on key risk factors, such as effective managing and monitoring of speed limits; eliminating drunk driving; and increasing the use of seat belts, child restraints and motorcycle helmets.
Our response to this global call is contained in our multipronged programme, involving all citizens, which seeks to end road deaths. I will ask the Deputy Minister to continue elaborating on this very critical programme.
With regard to the Road Traffic Management Corporation, the RTMC, road safety and traffic management are, according to our Constitution, national, provincial and local government competencies. This results in an absence of uniformity in traffic law enforcement. It was with this in mind that the Road Traffic Management Corporation Act was passed by this Parliament in 1999. The Road Safety Management Corporation, in terms of section 3 of the Road Traffic Management Corporation Act, Act 20 of 1999, was then established. This establishes a legal entity chaired by the Minister of Transport, with provinces and municipalities as shareholders.
Putting the RTMC in order has been one of the urgent tasks facing the transport sector. Currently, an acting CEO has been appointed to lead the corporation to ensure that the mandate is delivered. We have stabilised the RTMC, and the organisation is now positioned to lead our efforts to end road deaths and to create a safe road environment in South Africa and the region.
With regard to the maritime programme, the implementation of the maritime transport policy, which will address coastal shipping between our country and our neighbours, is a priority. Effectively, this seeks to increase regional trade through the integration of activities. Furthermore, in line with government objectives of skills development within the maritime sector, a skills development programme for young people will be introduced, in line with the various maritime activities.
South Africa does not own its own vessels. In fact, we import transportation costs. The need for South Africa to build up its ship register will provide an opportunity for new entrants to enter this sector, effectively transforming the sector from its current status. We know that almost 98% of our goods come by sea, so it is quite strange that we do not have a single ship registered in South Africa.
In civil aviation, the review and improvement of the tariff determination framework will continue so as to ensure effective service delivery within the aviation sector. Airport infrastructure in provinces will be supported, with the objective of ensuring the provision of adequate and effective infrastructure to promote air traffic transportation of both passengers and goods.
Current bilateral agreements that seek to increase tourism will be reviewed to ensure that the intervention plans being indicated will effectively achieve this. A further activity that we will engage in is the promotion, training and development of pilots emanating from the previously disadvantaged sector who will then be employed by SA Airways.
Finally, as indicated in the delivery agreement for Outcome 6: An efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network, the following outcomes are part of the delivery by the department: increase the market share of total freight to rail to an annualised 250 million tons from the current 178 million tons by 2014; benchmark the cost of building and maintaining roads to assess our efficiency and develop an appropriate funding model; reduce road accidents and fatalities from 14 000 by 2014, a 5% per annum reduction; ring-fence road maintenance funds, including the construction and maintenance of rural roads. Chairperson ...
Minister, I am giving you a few minutes to conclude.
Noting the importance of the transport sector's projects and programmes and the role of the various public entities as a fundamental contribution to community social cohesion, the Department of Transport undertook an organisational review to ensure that we could effectively deliver on our mandate. This has now been concluded. I wish to thank you, Chairperson, and for the co-operation that we have received from the entire transport family. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Ndebele, Deputy Minister Cronin, hon members of the House and distinguished guests ...
... nine bekunene, nami ngitsi angivakalise buhlungu lobuvela etibilini tenhlitiyo yami ngamake wesive. Sishayeke ludvuma lolungeke luphole nanini ngekushiywa ngumake Sisulu.
Tiyajabula tingelozi Tasezulwini ngekwemukela litsemba letfu. Natsi sesibhodlela emswaneni nje sitsi, lala ngekuthula make wetfu. Uwentile umsebenti wakho. Sitawuhlala sikukhumbula, nawe ungasikhohlwa. (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.)
[... ladies and gentlemen, let me express my deepest heartfelt pain about the mother of the nation. We have suffered a great loss that will last forever with the death of Mrs Sisulu.
The angels of heaven must be happy to welcome a person who brought us hope. We are also expressing our condolences by saying, rest in peace, our mother. You have played your role. We will always remember you; you must also not forget us.]
The spear has fallen. Pick it up.
Mgcinisihlalo, singuKhongolose kanye nekomidi elisebenza eNdlini yoMkhandlu Kazwelonke Wezifundazwe sithanda ukunxusa zonke izakhamizi zaKwaZulu- Natali, ikakhulukazi kwaDukuza, ukuba ziyeke udlame ngoba zikhona izindlela kanye nemigudu engcono engasetshenziswa ukusombulula izinkinga zabo ezimayelana nezokuthutha.
Mgcinisihlalo, kunomculi waseMpumalanga ocula umculo wezokholo owaqamba iculo elithi "basheshe bahleka inkosi ingizwile". Yebo, nathi singuKhongolose sivumelana naye lo mculi ngoba ngokhetho lukamasipala olusanda kudlula i-DA yajabula sengathi idle ubhedu ngalolu khetho kanti nguKhongolose ophumelele ngokuthi wengamele izifundazwe eziyisishiyagalombili phezu kwezifundazwe eziyisishiyagalolunye. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, as the ANC together with the National Council of Provinces, we would like to ask the communities of KwaZulu-Natal, especially those in KwaDukuza, to stop the violence because there are better channels to follow in trying to resolve their problems concerning transport.
Chairperson, there's a musician from Mpumalanga who sings a gospel song which says, "They were quick to laugh whereas God heard my prayers". Of course, as the ANC we agree with this musician because during the recent local government elections the DA was happy as if it had won the election, only to find that the ANC won the elections by taking eight out of the nine provinces.]
The context of the 52nd national conference mandate on transport is directed at the development of a single, efficient, safe, integrated, co- ordinated public transport system that drives the development of the mixed economy wherein the state, private capital, co-operatives and other forms of social ownership complement each other in an integrated way to eliminate poverty and foster shared economic growth.
The transport system should be seen as a strategic and enabling factor for economic growth and development by creating linkages and access to and between the various geographic and socioeconomic sectors of the country.
The transport system must achieve industrial diversification, a development network between small businesses and co-operatives, micro enterprises, rural and urban regions, the empowerment of youth, the disabled and women, while sustaining local economic development. The transport system has a responsibility to facilitate transformation in cities, towns and rural areas in order to build cohesive, sustainable and caring communities with closer access to work and social amenities, including sport and recreation facilities.
Critically, the transport system must provide an affordable and safe means of transport for communities and those who use public transport as a means to get to work. The development of rail infrastructure and networks, the recommissioning of the rural rail network and the enhancement of it being an economic hub for rural communities must be pursued. The interconnectedness of the rail, bus and taxi systems must be enhanced.
In 2007, Cabinet identified a number of challenges for the efficient functioning of the public transport system. A number of interventions have been rolled out to address these challenges, such as the Bus Rapid Transit System. In addition, a transport plan for nonmotorised forms of transport and other environmental interventions are at an advanced stage.
In this regard, Comrade President Zuma, in his state of the nation address, declared 2011 the year of job creation and the creation of decent work in the overall transformation of the economy. Transport is one of the drivers of economic growth and job creation in our country. This is possible through building an efficient and safe public transport system that is accessible and affordable. It is for this reason that we welcome the new economic growth path, which, amongst other things, promotes those sectors which are designed to be labour absorbing.
This Budget Vote should be able to demonstrate that our transport sector promotes economic growth and addresses infrastructure needs. While there has been a pronouncement of the restoration of the rural transport network, including rail and road, this budget needs to reflect this.
I want to take this opportunity to indicate the following things:
Mgcinisihlalo sizothanda ukudlulisa loku okulandelayo kuNgqongqoshe wezokuThutha, izakhamizi zaseMpumalanga endaweni yakwaNdebele - ngingaqondisile kuwe Mhlonishwa uManzankosi - zicela ukuthi lolu hlelo lokwakhiwa komzila wesitimela ozosiza ukunciphisa isiminyaminya sezinqola emgwaqeni obizwa ngokuthiwa u-Moloto, sengathi ungakhiwa ngokukhulu ukucophelela ukuze kugwemeke izingozi eziningi ezenzeka kulo mgwaqo.
Izakhamizi zaseNyakatho Koloni - ikakhulukazi ezihlala buqamama nendlela enkulu u-N7 eya eNamibia nase-Angola - zicela ukuthi uhulumeni makabhekelele ukuthuthukiswa kwemigwaqo esingathi yimigwaqo okuyiwona khiye noma ebalulekile kwigalelo lokuletha izinsiza nentuthuko kuyo yonke imiphakathi yaseNyakatho Koloni. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, we would like to say this to the Minister of Transport. The communities of Mpumalanga in the former KwaNdebele - not referring to you, hon Manzankosi - are requesting that the construction of a railway line which will reduce traffic congestion in Moloto Road, be done with great care to avoid the high rate of accidents on this road.
The communities of the Northern Cape, especially those that live away from the N7 highway to Namibia and Angola, are requesting that the government look into the development of roads which are very important in respect of service delivery and the development of all the communities of the Northern Cape.]
The Department of Transport is charged with providing a safe, reliable, effective, efficient and fully integrated transport system, and infrastructure that best meets the needs of our people. Part of this focus is to ensure that services provided are affordable for our people. The transport sector can play a key role in the economy by ensuring the movement of goods, people and services.
The majority of South Africans are poor and use trains, buses and taxis and this should inform transport approaches. It is in this regard that we should promote an integrated transport system. By having a coherent policy, fragmentation will be minimised and the roles of the different rail stakeholders clarified.
Our people need an efficient and reliable public transport system. Rail and road infrastructure and capacity must be improved not only to serve commuters or passengers, but also to be able to carry agricultural, mining and construction products.
There should be a revitalisation of the rail and road infrastructure, both local and long distance, particularly rural rail lines. Small towns and farming rail stations and rural roads should be revived for the commercial use and the transportation of goods and people. The rail network, in particular, is an important component of our economic infrastructure and it must be maintained and upgraded.
The rail sector has experienced declines in freight tonnage, losing out to road freight. This situation has resulted in road deterioration, congestion, high carbon emissions and an increased occurrence of road fatalities and serious injuries. Addressing road fatalities, traffic congestion and corruption in the transport sector will not happen through law enforcement, arrests, convictions and harsh fines alone. We need to build a strong public transport system that is reliable and efficient through this Budget Vote. Public transport requires increased safety supervision, and it tends to be overcrowded, particularly when it comes to both local and long-distance trains.
We welcome the provincial roads maintenance grant which is to be implemented through the Division of Revenue Act in order to ensure efficient investment in provincial roads. We note that its purpose is to supplement provincial roads investments and support preventive, routine and emergency maintenance on provincial road networks.
The expenditure of this grant must be in accordance with maintenance requirements, as identified by the road asset management system. This Budget Vote must improve the condition of the roads and extend the lifespan of the road infrastructure.
We need to fast-track the efficient implementation and monitoring of programme management units in all provinces. We need to guarantee passenger safety. Poor performance should be detected in advance through the monitoring mechanism. Companies that are in partnership with government should be subjected to vigorous monitoring and evaluation of their performance.
We welcome the department's Budget Vote emphasis on investments in infrastructure for the benefit of our economy and people. In this regard, public-private partnerships can play key roles in building new roads, bridges and rail lines. However, the state's leading role in infrastructure development and the overall transport system is critical in ensuring reliable and quality service, consistency and accountability.
In conclusion, improvement in the transport system and the rolling out of more trains, buses and infrastructure with momentum will have a positive impact on the creation of jobs within the transport industry. The monitoring and evaluation mechanism will lead to greater efficiency, safety and more reliable transport systems across our provinces. It is for these reasons that the ANC supports Budget Vote No 37. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Rob Carlisle, don't break your glasses.
Thank you, Madam. The glasses broke by themselves. This doesn't happen where we meet in the Western Cape, but the glasses went all by themselves down the slope here and fell down there. Perhaps I will get used to this when I have been here a couple of times.
It is always a pleasure to follow the hon Minister, who is always helpful and kind to me. It is a privilege for me to serve in the family of which he is, I think, sometimes to his regret, the father. It is also a pleasure to follow on the hon Sibande, the chairperson of the select committee.
I was particularly interested in the hon Sibande, because he largely delivered my speech, but he started off on an interesting note. He said that the ANC won eight provinces, which is correct. If one adds to that the fact that the ANC controls the national government 100% and controls all tax revenue 100%, the ANC therefore is totally responsible for public transport and all related aspects. If they are not responsible, who is? We have to ask ourselves that.
Then the hon member went on, quite correctly, to say, "Yes, but the railroads are in bad shape." The rail is in bad shape; experiencing a decline. Well, this is quite a serious decline. Most of us haven't seen a train on the railway line for a long, long time, except in the cities, and that is Metrorail. And they don't look very good, sir. [Interjections.] That is the truth and all those members know it.
He went on to say that the decline of rail has a tremendous impact on the deterioration of roads. That is absolutely correct. That is one of the hard realities we have to deal with. The fact is if we don't fix rail, we can never fix road. The hon member is correct in that. He said that along with road deterioration came increasing fatalities on our roads; that roads were becoming increasingly unsafe - he is correct - and more expensive.
In fact, far from creating jobs, they shed jobs. Right across Africa you can see a direct correlation between the rising cost of transporting goods on failing roads and the falling rate of employment within this family sector. My concern, sir ... And it is a family. For those who want to make politics out of it, that is their business. I think this is too serious a matter for politics.
It is a matter in which my hon Minister allows us to agree, in coming to this House, to say what we want to say. This is also where my hon Minister has inherited a "mess of pottage", as they say in the Bible. Many of the problems we face today are problems not of his making, but problems that he inherited - from the past, the near past, and the distant past.
There are three things that concern me. I want to tie them together in a triangle as it were. [Interjections.] The first is the toll roads, the Gauteng toll roads. They are wonderful to have if you are Sweden or California, but can we afford them and at what cost? So, we had to close the toll roads down for the election. Otherwise, perhaps the ANC would only have had seven provinces, and not eight. We had to close the toll roads down for the elections. What that brings home to us is that the cost of those toll roads is the true cost of roads, and people can't afford and won't afford to pay them.
The second matter is that of two train crashes - one in Tshwane and the other in Johannesburg - in which over 1 050 people were injured and two died. By the grace of God it was only two. But let me tell you that these crashes are the forerunner of train crashes to come which will make our blood run cold. This is because at the same time as this is happening, a leaked report from the rail regulators, printed in Business Day, said that in 2008 and 2009 there were 5 000 accidents on the railway lines; 1 000 collisions a year and rising; and that 400 people died in those collisions and accidents other than people who were killed at level crossings. And today is, sir, International Level Crossing Day. I was out with Metrorail and Transnet, my partners, at crossings today to see how we can bring down the death rate there.
What concerns me is that I do not see a strategy. What the hon member before me spoke about, I would say, if I was to calculate quickly, would cost about R70 billion to R80 billion, and it is not there. It is not there. In fact, I don't want to argue with my hon Minister, but I don't believe the R86 billion for the 718 sets of trains is there. Even if it is there, when are we going to see it? In 2014 we will see the first one. It will come on full stream, maybe, by 2019 - that is eight years from now. The current commuter rail system cannot possibly continue for eight years. It is out of the question. It is out of the question. The roads in this country cannot possibly continue for eight years, unless we can get a considerable proportion of freight, as the hon member said, back onto rail. And I don't see the plans for that.
The first plan has to be that you cannot possibly split up your transport function under different ministerial heads. It can't be done. It is wrong. This powerful House, which represents those eight provinces, the hon members, you should be taking this up. You should be supporting the hon chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on these issues, because she is saying the same things that I am saying. And so we have to ...
Hon member ...
Yes. May I finish my sentence?
It is not eight provinces; it is nine, including the Western Cape.
Madam, can I just say that he referred to eight provinces controlled by the ANC. [Interjections.] But that is what I am talking to, Madam ... [Interjections.] ... which I'm sure I'm entitled to. [Interjections.] There is another one just over here.
But what I am saying is: those eight provinces carry the weight to decide whether there will be a transport future for South Africa or not. And for a trading country, we cannot operate without mobility of people and goods.
So, what I call for, in conclusion, is that we need to have a strategy. Gautrain is not a strategy. It is an indecent waste of money on the already rich of South Africa. I want to tell you: the Gauteng freeways are an indecent waste of money on the already rich of South Africa. What about the people from Soweto who must travel in? What about the people from Khayelitsha and the South East? [Interjections.]
The ones in Soweto have the BRT ... [Inaudible.]
There is a good point. The ones in Soweto have the Bus Rapid Transit system which takes 30 000 people. Will the hon Deputy Minister tell me how many people need to come from Soweto? It is 620 000! In other words, you would need another nine BRTs. But fix the rail and you would have fixed a major problem. So let us not make petty points here. The hon Deputy Minister knows very well ...
Hon member, you only have one minute left. Will you conclude.
Thank you, Madam. The hon Deputy Minister knows very well that those kinds of comparisons cut no ice; neither with him, nor with me, nor with the people who travel in the most insufferable conditions on our so-called public transport. So, let's put the insults to one side and let us deal with the ... [Interjections.] I'm not insulting anyone; I'm putting the case, with which the hon Deputy Minister does not disagree. I'm putting that case and it's a case for South Africa, not for the DA or the ANC; it's a case for South Africa in which South Africans must take responsibility. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister Ndebele, hon Deputy Minister Cronin, hon members, comrades and distinguished guests, I thank you.
Ndi sa athu vhuya nda ya kule, kha ri tende uri hafha shangoni hu na vhathu vho bebelwaho u sokou zhamba musi vha tshi amba. A vha koni u amba zwivhuya. Vha dzulela u amba zwivhi fhedzi. Zwine zwa khou itea, u zwi vhona nga i?o ?ivhuya arali u tshi khou ?o?a u zwi vhona nga?o. Arali u sa ?o?i u vhona zwivhuya, u ?o zwi vhona nga i?o ?ivhi. (Translation of Tshivenda paragraph follows.)
[Before I go any further, let us agree that in this world there are people who are always yelling when they speak. They cannot say anything positive. They always say negative things. Whatever is happening here, you can see it with a positive eye if you want to, and if you do not want to see it with a positive eye, you will see it with a negative eye.]
Therefore, I would like indicate that the transport system is at the core of economic growth. It is the network and supply for production and is central to the development of the economy. An effective public transport system includes integrating road, rail and air transportation. Privately controlled passenger transport must be effectively regulated and controlled.
The ANC transport policy ensures that we promote co-ordinated, safe, affordable public transport as a social service, and that we ensure that such a system is flexible enough to take into account local conditions, in order to make the best use of the available transport infrastructure.
Commuters are being encouraged to use public transport and should be actively discouraged from using cars. The revenue raised by way of a dedicated tax and/or levy must continue to be used to directly benefit the provision of public transport. Rail transport must be extended not just in the urban areas, but particularly in the rural areas where our people are most vulnerable and do not have the financial ability to pay for other forms of transport, thereby locking them into a geographically defined area. Rural areas require more frequent public transport and improved facilities at affordable costs.
Zwenezwo ndi zwe nda pfa Vho Minisi?a vha tshi khou dadamala khazwo. Vho vha vha tshi khou tou amba zwone zwo teaho. [This is what I heard the Minister elaborating on. He was saying the right things.]
Bus lines must act as feeders to the rail services or as prime movers if rail is not available. Taxis should act as feeders to bus and rail services or as prime movers if neither rail nor bus is available. The subsidisation of parallel services along a common route should be avoided as this is merely a drain on the financial resources of the state.
When coming to intensive labour and road maintenance, all I can say is that we commend the department for its commitment to promoting labour-absorptive construction methods. Part of the commitment involves there not being potholes on our roads. Indeed, there is a notable commitment to ensure access roads to schools, clinics, rural communities and public infrastructure. This construction of transport infrastructure should be integral to land and agrarian reform, education and public works in terms of job creation and development.
We must emphasise that the construction of infrastructure needs to be monitored across all our provinces in order to ensure that such a process leads to the creation of quality jobs. We support the new growth path of the economy, which is labour absorbing and equitable in its output. The infrastructural construction and revitalisation should lead to structural transformation and sustainable development.
Musi ri tshi ?a kha zwa mishumo, Vho Minisi?a Ndebele, vho no ?i zwi ?an?avhudza zwavhu?i uri vhugai i ?o ya kha vundu ?ifhio, nahone ya swika ya sika mishumo mingafhani. [With regard to employment, Minister Ndebele has already indicated clearly how much is going to be allocated to each province, and also how many jobs it will create.]
However, the department must ensure that it monitors the implementation of these commitments by all our provinces. There is a basis for these commitments to ensure that government delivers on its promises.
In 2007 the ANC said that the creation of jobs must be the central focus of our economic policies. This focus was translated into one of the election manifesto promises in 2009. Consequently, we are looking forward to a New Growth Path that will concretely do the following: identify areas where employment creation is possible on a large scale as a result of substantial changes in conditions in our country; develop a policy package to facilitate employment creation in these areas through a comprehensive drive to enhance both social equity and comprehensiveness; bring out systemic changes to mobilise domestic investment around activities that create sustainable employment; and create strong social dialogue to focus all stakeholders on encouraging growth in employment-creating activities.
Hezwi zwithu zwo?he, muhasho u khou zwi ita. [The department is doing all these things.]
We need a social partnership between government, business and labour in which we all commit to achieving the goal of a better life for all. Again, it is important to note that the road infrastructure construction momentum and job creation should be driven by our developmental state. This is to ensure that we deliver decent jobs and quality infrastructural construction at a reasonable cost.
We must foster the developmental role of the state in order to develop its capacity to lead the construction of society. We support the department's commitment to continuing investment in infrastructure and transport.
In conclusion, an integrated transport system and infrastructure require the necessary funding. The department shows commitment to major transport infrastructure construction and job creation initiatives. We appreciate increasing road maintenance and the grants to provinces, and hope that with this budget we can do much better. As the ANC, we support Transport Budget Vote No 37. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members of the NCOP, members of the public and guests, the one and only factor that will bring the South African economy to a standstill, especially in the rural areas, is the bad conditions of the roads in the country. But this is also a factor for growth and a means to job creation in the country.
If we look at the statistics of roads in South Africa it is shocking to realise that South Africa is one of the upcoming countries in the world and yet still has 140 000 kilometres of unproclaimed roads.
In the Western Cape 70% of the roads are in a good condition, while in the rest of South Africa - in all other provinces - 40% of the roads are in a good condition. The provinces with the worst roads are Limpopo, the North West and Mpumalanga - and in my province it is especially the roads between Wolmaransstad and Schweizer-Reneke, and between Lichtenburg and Koster.
It is good to host the Department of Transport Investors Conference on 13 and 14 June in Cape Town, but it is too late to rescue the roads in South Africa. The DA will support you, and let's believe there will be local and foreign investors that are willing to invest in major transport infrastructure and flagship projects in the rail, road, maritime and aviation sectors.
To keep the roads in a good condition it is always better to be proactive in the rehabilitation of the roads. On 20 April 2010 I said that 80% of the roads in South Africa had exceeded their lifespan of 20 years. According to the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, and the Automobile Association, the AA, this is still the case. It will cost the taxpayers, road users and investors R35 billion a year for the next 10 years to maintain and rebuild the roads in South Africa.
Of the 279 municipalities in South Africa, 100 do not have engineers and people with technical skills to do the necessary maintenance on local roads in towns and cities. The DA wants to know what has happened to all the tax paid by vehicle owners of South Africa. Is this money well controlled and managed by the department?
We also want to know if all the control mechanisms are in place to see that tender processes are above board and that skilled people get the tenders who are then able to build quality roads and maintain roads in a professional way. However, it is absolutely necessary for the public to get involved and report bad roads in their areas to the relevant departments and to keep on reporting until maintenance is done. We should all pull together to make our public transport system safe, efficient and affordable.
Toll roads are not new to our country and have a minimum impact when once or twice a year the public pay toll road fees on their way to and from a holiday destination. But when it affects the motorist's pocket on a daily basis, it is quite a different story. We need to differentiate between the two. Urban communities travel in their cars because there is no alternative public transport that is safe or efficient.
So the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, the GFIP, holds no water at all. I trust, therefore, in the interests of the Gauteng motoring public, that you will not let this foolhardy tolling project proceed.
Regarding air travel tariffs, permanent regulators are needed for this aviation sector. For some time now the DA has been concerned about the ad hoc arrangements currently in place to determine how many tariffs are set by the Airports Company SA, Acsa, and the Air Traffic and Navigation Services, the ATNS. Owing to the nature of the Acsa Act and the ATNS Act, the tariffs are determined by the bottom line of these two agencies, rather than through rational economic planning based on international best practice.
The DA wants to congratulate the Department of Transport on the launch of the new roads upgrade and maintenance initiative to fix and upgrade the entire secondary roads network of South Africa. The S'hamba Sonke programme has been allocated R20 billion for the current Medium-Term Expenditure Framework cycle.
The main purpose of the programme is for the rehabilitation of roads, but it must also create new jobs for contractors and also jobs all over South Africa. In order to create 70 000 new jobs in 2011, there must be a balance between maintenance and construction of 60%/40% in terms of the international benchmark.
South Africa cannot afford one more person to die on the roads because of potholes that have not been sealed. Two people died last week on the road between Northam and Thabazimbi when their car hit a pothole and rolled over. We can mention many more accidents as a result of potholes.
The N14 between Ventersdorp and Krugersdorp has been closed since 2006. At that stage, the road was part of the North West. Since then the boundaries have been moved and that part of the road is now in Gauteng. The road was reported and questions were also asked, without any success.
Public transport is more important than ever for road users in South Africa in order to get to school and work safely and on time , and also to get the economy of the country on track.
As the Minister and the Deputy Minister mentioned in their foreword to the National Land Transport Act, Act 5 of 2009, the new National Land Transport Act ...
Hon member, unfortunately your time is over.
But, hon Chair, you gave other people extra time. [Interjections.]
Order! Order! There was only one person that I afforded a few extra minutes, and that was the Minister because he had to wind up. Please, hon Groenewald, be good and sit down.
Thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Chairperson, Minister Ndebele, MEC Carlisle, chair of the select committee the hon Pat Sibande, fellow hon members and colleagues from the Department of Transport, as the hon Carlisle knows, my habits, like his, are to be polemical, but I am going to try to resist being polemical in the face of provocation from his side. I want to talk about something in the same vein that he began to speak about, but he lost track. I think maybe because he lost something when he lost his glasses. [Laughter.]
An area which is so important for us in general in transport but specifically an area which requires co-operative governance - working across political parties, across provinces, across different spheres of government, across the private and public sectors - is the whole area of road safety. Minister Ndebele mentioned in his speech on 11 May that a massive global campaign was being launched called "The Decade of Action for Road Safety". South Africa is a very important proponent and participant in this major global campaign. I think we were in the middle of the local government elections, so we didn't quite launch it with the same fanfare, but in Sydney the Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit up, in Rio de Janeiro the statue of Christ was lit up, and so on. We failed to light up Table Mountain, MEC Carlisle, because I think we were all fighting the local government elections. This is a very, very important campaign.
As the Minister has mentioned, 1,3 million people around the world are dying every single year in road - not accidents, because they are not - crashes and collisions. Some 50 million people, at least, are injured seriously. This is many things. On the one hand, it's a health challenge. Unless we significantly reduce the number of fatalities on roads, not just in the world but also in our country, road fatalities - which are already killing more people than malaria - will kill more people by 2020 than the HIV and Aids pandemic. In fact, road fatalities will become the major contributor to fatalities in the world, unless we begin to reverse this trend.
In South Africa, as the Minister mentioned, at least 14 000 people are killed every single year. This places a huge burden on overburdened health care systems. In South Africa, about 40 000 people are seriously injured, many of them suffering disabilities. This is also a developmental challenge, because in terms of the global statistics, 90% of the 1,3 million people that are killed are in the developing world, in countries such as South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, Pakistan, Bangladesh and so forth. So the burden of death is carried massively by developing countries, by poor countries and by countries that are the least able to deal with the consequences of this. Why? Well, because what is happening is that increasingly cars and freeways are coming into the developing world in countries such as China and India, and also here in South Africa.
This is why the hon DA member, who earlier read a motion without notice, which was then demoted to a notice of motion and intentioned for debate, proudly boasted about achievements in terms of clean audits and deliveries and so forth from certain cities and provinces in South Africa. Now, of course, clean audits are very important. Of course efficient delivery is very important. But we also need to transform the shape of our towns and cities. Why, for instance, do so many people need to travel all the way from Khayelitsha, or all the way from Soweto, to work and back again to go home? Why? Because apartheid spatial patterns are still in place. [Applause.]
I must say - not to be polemical - the most untransformed city is the city that I live in, which is my home city, Cape Town. It is the most racially untransformed city. Therefore the burden on public transport, the burden on the Metrorail system and so forth is not unrelated to the reluctance and unwillingness of the propertied classes and the parties that represent their interests to change spatial transformation. That too is part of the challenge of overcoming the huge burden of fatalities, congestion and all of these difficulties that other members across the House have mentioned. [Applause.]
This is a child rights issue as well - these fatalities and injuries. Here, in South Africa, 40% of those who are killed in road collisions are pedestrians, and a very significant number of them are children between the ages of four and eight. It is the principal cause of unnatural death in young children in South Africa, and it is the same in the rest of the developing world.
Again, because children live in squalid conditions with a freeway that runs right past them, or in a squatter camp where the clinic or the school is on the other side of the road, they are getting knocked down like flies. Freeways are built without any consideration for people on bikes, without any consideration for children on their long way to school, and so forth.
Therefore, in South Africa, it is also a national question. It is part of a struggle to overcome racial oppression in our country - the struggle for road safety in general. It is a human rights issue. The Freedom Charter - which I'm glad to see the DA now says it supports; I hope you support all of the Freedom Charter and not just some select parts of it - correctly said that we should have the freedom to move freely throughout South Africa. [Interjections.]
Hon Carlisle, could you please abide by the Rules of this Chamber. Please don't interject when someone is at the podium.
Okay, I am sorry, hon Carlisle. I enjoy his interjections, Chairperson, because he makes a fool of himself when he interjects, so it is a pity that you have stopped him from interjecting.
The Freedom Charter said that people should be free to move throughout South Africa, and it was referring to pass laws and influx control. We have gotten rid of those. But millions of people in South Africa still don't have the basic right to move freely with mobility and so forth, because of the lack of safety and the way we have not transformed our spatial realities.
The struggle for safety on our roads is also an economic and business issue. In the world at least US$100 million is lost as a result of fatalities and serious injuries on roads. I think that is a vast underestimation, frankly. Here, in South Africa, at least R50 million a year ... [Interjections.] ... sorry, R50 billion is lost as a result. Thanks for the interjection. I am sure it was in line with the Rules of the House.
But, of course, the fundamental issue is that these are not just statistics. They are tragedies for human beings, for families who lose breadwinners, who lose loved ones and so forth.
Now, the good news - and here's the strategy, because we ask what the strategy is - is that this is an epidemic for which there are cures. Other countries, countries that had as bad a record as we do, for instance France in the 1970s, have massively reduced fatalities and injuries on their roads.
In terms of complying with the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, there is a five-pillar programme. One of the pillars is that there needs to be an overall strategy: what we are calling "road safety management", and we have entrusted that critically to the Road Traffic Management Corporation, the RTMC. There have been problems there, as the Minister stated. We are addressing those. We think we are beginning to turn the RTMC around.
The RTMC, MEC Carlisle, is the responsibility not just of the Minister, but of all of the shareholders who are all the MECs in the country and the SA Local Government Association, Salga. I think you would agree that it is very important that we have a unified strategy; that we don't approach this issue in a piecemeal fashion or in an ad hoc way. So that is a critical component.
One of the early successes of this is the National Rolling Enforcement Plan, which began on 1 October last year when the Minister announced that we would, with the co-operation of MECs and municipalities, stop and inspect one million cars at least every single month. The media was often sceptical and said, "Ah, this is just before Christmas. It is the usual thing: Arrive Alive, and then they are going to forget about it." We have sustained that with the co-operation of our colleagues in provinces and municipalities throughout the country and we have exceeded those targets.
This is not a question of just stopping cars, inspecting them and checking if they have paid fines and so on, but it is also about asking municipalities and provinces to report, so that we build up a national picture of what is going on. The same applies to accidents and fatalities - this is not just about statistics, but what the causes are and what the provinces and municipalities are doing about the causes.
There is also the whole issue of safer roads and safer road transportation. This means all the things that the Minister and others have talked about - the S'hamba Sonke programme, making sure that we provide money for road maintenance, particularly in rural areas and provinces. What is also very critical - and others have said this - is public transport. In principle, public transport is much safer, much more affordable, more energy useful and so forth than private cars that congest roads and so on. Therefore, the devolution of funding - all the funding isn't sitting at a national level - to cities and eventually also to district municipalities to integrate their land use plans, to transform land use, to deracialise land settlement patterns and also to connect public transport systems, is very much part of our road safety strategy as well. Safer vehicles!
Let me just say something quickly here because the media is jumping on to this: We are moving towards what we are calling periodic vehicle testing. Currently, the only time that vehicles get assessed is when we sell them, and that is a problem. So what are we trying to do? The first thing is that currently we need to note that already buses need to come in every six months for periodic vehicle testing. Minibuses and other vehicles used for profit - freight vehicles and so on - must come in for vehicle testing every single year.
In many other countries you have to do that annually - bring your own car in annually when you renew your licence. Part of renewing the licence is also that they check the vehicle. We know in South Africa that, one, we don't have the capacity to do 10 million vehicles in a year; and, two, we also know that we have to be realistic about the reality of South Africa, which is that there are large numbers of very poor people whose only chance of mobility is a car, but they can't really afford a car, so their car is 12 years old and often not in great shape.
What we are proposing is to have periodic vehicle testing: in the case of cars, for instance private vehicles, we propose that we start with the oldest vehicles, vehicles of 10 years and older and perhaps on a two-yearly basis rather than a one-yearly basis. So we begin to edge into this space, not in order to punish people or to render people immobile, but to say that if you can't really afford a car that is basically safe, you then can't afford a car. We need to assist that process, but it will not necessarily be a very popular process. It will be absolutely important, though. It is in the interests of those people themselves and the safety of all of us who use the roads.
The fourth pillar of the UN campaign is safer road users: one of a whole range of things we need to do is that we need to improve our driving skills. The DA, in the Budget Vote debate in the National Assembly, correctly raised the question of how relevant our driving test is. Is what gets tested at the testing station actually relevant to the real live conditions that we face when we go out on the roads? I think that is a good question, because we are not partisan or deaf to what people say. This needs to be a co-operative thing. That is something, Minister, that we are looking at. How relevant is it?
One of the important things that we also want to do is to begin to register and regulate driving schools. [Interjections.] Sorry? [Interjections.] Oh, okay.
Now, again, parts of the media have jumped on this as if to say, "Here's the nasty government trying to regulate - regulate media, regulate this, regulate driving schools." Interestingly, it's the driving schools themselves that are coming to us and saying, "Please regulate us. We would like regulation." Why? Well, because the reputable driving schools - and there are some, many perhaps - are having their livelihoods threatened by fly-by-night operators who really don't know what they are doing, but advertise themselves as driving schools. So, we want to support that. The Minister will be meeting with the driving schools so that we can move towards certifying those that are certifiable - not in the sense that one would use for the MEC, not that kind of certifiable - in terms of their ability to run effective driving schools.
Eventually, perhaps, we can move to a situation like that in Germany, but that will take some time, in which in order to get a licence you have to show that you have been through ... We can discuss it. But it is certainly important to encourage effective driving schools, and this works well in a number of other countries.
There are many other things to be said. We should really congratulate the SA National Taxi Council, Santaco, on coming to the party ever since Minister Ndebele has been ... I'm not sure how he is charming them, but they are really coming to the party. For instance, they are running Operation Hlokomela to encourage their drivers to drive safely and be careful about their customers. We are also working jointly with them to try to establish an academy for taxi drivers.
Critically, my last point ... How much time is left? One minute, okay. Regardless of all the things we are doing, we must obviously accept the reality that people are still going to get killed and injured on our roads. So, in terms of the last pillar of the UN decade, it is critical that we have effective post-crash interventions ... [Inaudible.] ... instant care. That's why as the ANC - again, something they don't like very much - we are going to roll out national health insurance.
What we are also going to do is that next year we are going to come to Parliament with legislation to transform the Road Accident Fund. Because the fund is based on fault, people who get injured have to prove that they weren't at fault, or that they weren't so much at fault and so on, and then their claim is awarded. It takes forever. Lawyers chow up half the money, and it doesn't go into the hospital care system so we have to change that. Thank you very much, Chairperson. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
I would like to notify all hon members that the hon Kaunda is on his way. Therefore the hon Feldman will speak first.
Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, hon members and officials of the department, on 1 June 2011 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's space shuttle the Endeavour made its final landing, having made a total of 25 missions and travelling almost 200 million kilometres in service to mankind's travels to the great beyond. Transport has been a faithful servant to us as human beings and an important driver of economic growth.
South Africans are despondent. With the Gauteng toll road debacle, we have witnessed increases in the toll roads cost, now estimated at R14 billion, up from R6,22 billion, which excluded feasibility studies, design costs and supply of e-tags. The upgrading of roads is estimated at over R17 billion. Minister, why must the ordinary citizen pay for the mistakes of the government of today? [Interjections.]
According to the Minister, 40% of South Africa's provincial road network is all but lost to us.
Hon Cronin, please behave. [Laughter.]
To add to this, 80% of the entire road network of the country is older than 20 years. We need approximately R75 billion over the next five years just to stop the spread of this disease.
One of government's initiatives, to add to the problem, is through the S'hamba Sonke project, creating an estimated 68 600 jobs. This is a labour- intensive project, which will cost R23,3 billion - taxpayers' money - over the medium term. We need to ask: How sustainable are these jobs and how accurate are the job creation figures? The Minister has stated that project management units will be established in all provinces by June 2011. Minister, has this been done?
The Minister reported on the strategy developed in conjunction with the SA National Taxi Council, Santaco, known as the TR3 2020. In principle, we as Cope agree with the strategy and its goals. Was any other association consulted in this process? Surely Santaco does not represent the whole of the taxi community?
We all know that the government was part of the establishment of Santaco. The Minister has acknowledged this once again. Referring to the taxi industry and Santaco as one and the same thing is wrong. It is interesting to note that Santaco and the Department of Transport occupy the same building in Pretoria. It would seem as if they occupy the same bed as well.
Reports indicate that approximately 20% of licence plates in Gauteng are forged. The figure might actually be higher. How will the toll operators ensure that genuine licence-plate holders are not charged for use on the roads by those with fraudulent plates?
With regard to "dodge the pothole", it is becoming a national sport in South Africa. Cope would like to acknowledge the work done to address the problem by both the private and public sectors. Much more, however, needs to be done. We need to ask: What happened to the R25,5 billion appropriated for the six metros in South Africa in the previous calendar year to address the problem? Minister, how was this money spent? What results have been achieved? I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and hon members, on Tuesday during the Budget Vote debate on Energy, and this morning during the Budget Vote debate on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, we noted with pride the very successful local government elections in which our communities have gone against international trends in respect of voter turnout and came out in their numbers to vote for parties and local representatives of their choice.
We stated before, during and after the elections the message we heard from our communities was that they expected better services now. The state of the roads infrastructure came up very strongly, especially before the elections when, at times, in violent public protests in which the anger about the state of the roads infrastructure was central, properties of councillors and public property were destroyed. We want to register that we condemn the destruction of public property as well as the private property of councillors.
We say again that we intend to respond with unquestionable commitment to the demands of our communities for better services. It became very evident during the period before the elections that communities do not know or care which sphere of government is responsible for which road. From their point of view, all roads are physically in a municipal space, and therefore the municipality must account. Intergovernmental co-ordination is nowhere more important than it is in the roads sector.
We as the SA Local Government Association, Salga, would like to request the Minister please to add the following matters to the list of priorities for this year. The first matter is the finalisation of the roads proclamation. The approximately 221 000 kilometres of roads remaining unallocated between the provinces, districts and local municipalities means that the monitoring of the conditions and maintenance of this vast portfolio of the roads infrastructure falls between the cracks.
The second matter is the funding of rural roads. We appreciate the steps that the Minister has taken in launching the S'hamba Sonke project. But we understand that this focus on secondary roads means that this programme is about only those roads that are the responsibility of the provinces. This does not include municipal roads, mostly access roads.
With the exception of tolled roads, the roads infrastructure is generally funded from tax. In the case of local government, this tax is property rates tax. In the rural areas there is no property rates tax payment. The national fiscus, on behalf of poor households, contributes a limited amount in the form of the municipal infrastructure grant for the provision of basic services infrastructure, including basic levels of roads infrastructure. This means that those households that are not reflected in the Statistics SA data as poor, as well as business, do not contribute to the costs of providing roads infrastructure in their areas.
Therefore, urban ratepayers and poor rural households who are paid for by the national fiscus have to carry this unfair subsidy burden to the rural middle- and high-income households and businesses. Unfortunately, a municipality cannot overtax those urban ratepayers, leading to the situations in which there is no financial provision for investment and maintenance of the rural roads infrastructure except for the small contribution made by the national fiscus on behalf of poor households.
Ironically, middle- and high-income households and businesses are the most vocal in their demand for good quality roads because of the impact it has on their vehicles. We, as Salga, would like to request the Minister to work with us and National Treasury to find a solution to this challenge of funding the rural municipal roads, such as access roads.
With regard to the issue of public transport, we appreciate the strides taken in respect of supporting implementation and the roll-out of the Bus Rapid Transit System in four cities. However, some of the cities have indicated concern that the rapid transit system has been reduced to a bus modal transport system. Where a city prefers a rapid transit system that is not anchored on a bus system, for example rail, this does not appear to find favour with some of the departmental officials.
In addition, in the past financial year, a budget was provided for interventions of a similar kind in 12 district municipalities, but there has been no progress in this regard. We would like to appeal to the Minister to attend to the above matters in respect of the Bus Rapid Transit System.
In terms of open road tolling in and around metropolitan spaces, the view of local government is that charging the users of infrastructure for the use of such infrastructure is an acceptable means of revenue collection. That is what we do on a daily basis. However, we are concerned about how this principle has been applied in the case of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, the GFIP. Municipalities believe that the application of road-user charges for the use of toll roads should be preceded by detailed studies and analysis of, amongst other things, how the proposed tolling will affect communities in the nearby areas, including access to public transport, to other life opportunities such as health centres, and opportunities of employment or education; and the extent to which there is likely to be diversion of vehicles onto the municipal road network and the impact of such diversion.
These studies should form the basis for decision-making regarding whether to toll a road or not, or determining mitigating measures against the negative impact if the tolling has to go ahead. In the case of the GFIP, Salga has not seen any of these studies being published and/or used as a basis for public consultation. The introduction of road tolling should be linked to viable alternatives in terms of alternative roads or alternative modes of transport for those who will be affected by the road tolling.
Municipalities believe that the impact of the diversion of traffic from the tolled roads into local roads, in terms of congestion and costs of maintenance, has been assessed and provision has been made to ameliorate this in terms of the municipal roads network, which was not designed to carry such heavy traffic volumes. We wish to request the Minister to engage meaningfully with us in this regard. In conclusion, after the recent elections, the majority of councillors who will be members of mayoral committees responsible for roads or members of council committees on roads are likely to be new councillors with no previous sector experience. This creates a desperate information asymmetry between the administration and councillors and leads to poor oversight and poor decisions by council structures, such as mayoral committees, executive committees, or council committees. There is a need to empower these councillors.
We appeal to the Minister to include, on his list of priorities this year, an induction programme for members of mayoral committees responsible for roads and members of council committees responsible for roads.
Siyabulela, Sihlalo. [Kwaqhwatywa.] [Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]]
The Gautrain has arrived in Cape Town. I will call the hon Kaunda.
Mr T M KAUNDA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, let me apologise for arriving late. I think there was a miscommunication about my flight. I was misled about the exact time, but this is no longer a problem because I'm here. Hon Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister of Transport, Members of Parliament and officials of the department, allow me to join all South Africans who have paid tribute and expressed their words of condolence to Mama Sisulu's family. Indeed, this is a great loss to the entire nation.
Ma Sisulu was a great revolutionary, a fearless fighter, and a selfless and dedicated leader of our people. We are indeed commemorating and also celebrating her life. We acknowledge the contributions and sacrifices she made for a good cause, which has brought about our democracy. May her soul rest in peace!
His Excellency, the President of the Republic Jacob Zuma, in his state of the nation address, put more emphasis on job creation as a government priority in this financial year moving forward. It is for this reason that I commend the Department of Transport on deciding to choose one of the government's 12 outcomes as the key focus of work between 2009 and 2014: An efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network.
The introduction of the S'hamba Sonke road project is a direct response to the call made by our President, as alluded to above. We appreciate the fact that this programme has already been launched in our province. It is going to form part of our annual oversight plan as the portfolio committee. We will discharge our responsibility of oversight as we have a keen interest in its objectives. Ours is to support and monitor that the intended good objectives of this programme yield the envisaged results.
We also see this programme as reinforcement of the programme which is currently in place in the province: Operation KuShunquthuli, which also targets, in the main, our rural communities in order to develop road networks, which enable rural communities to access public facilities and ensure close proximity to economic nodes.
The elements of labour-intensive skills transferral and procurement of material from local suppliers will make a significant contribution to the local economy. The usage of co-operatives composed of the youth, women and people with disabilities in this programme will go a long way towards real economic emancipation of these sectors. If the Department of Transport minimised the participation of well-established companies and invited them to mentor the local co-operatives for a particular period, this would require the other departments involved also to allocate adequate resources for the development and assistance of these co-operatives to be able to execute their responsibilities in an effective and efficient manner.
This gesture will also bring to an end an element of fronting, which is currently characterising the pattern of beneficiation in our projects. A clear policy to guide this development should be developed. If it already exists, it should be closely monitored to enable this noble objective to yield positive results.
We fully support the introduction of the rural road grant to assist rural road asset management systems and collect road and traffic data in line with the Road Infrastructure Strategic Framework. Most of our district municipalities, particularly those that cover the former homeland areas, lack technical skills and have low revenue collection. Provincial transport departments should provide more technical support to these municipalities to accelerate the development and implementation of integrated transport plans in order to turn around our transport systems to better the lives of our people.
The revitalisation of rail transport is undoubtedly a clear vision by our government to ensure economic growth. Rail transport plays a pivotal role in both goods and public transportation. The government's new economic growth path also alludes to the significant role that rail transport will play in our economy, and the creation of linkages with other economic corridors on our continent as well as other international corridors.
The Department of Transport should accelerate the development of the Durban- KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg-Gauteng rail corridor, which will build important economic linkages between the two provinces which are more strategic and central to our country's economic growth. Hon Minister, we appeal that this development kick-starts from KwaZulu-Natal to Gauteng.
We are fully cognisant of Strategic Goal No 2 of the department, which states that it seeks to build a "transport sector that is safe and secure". The department intends to reduce the number of fatalities on the road by 50%, and the incidents and occurrences in the rail environment by 25% by 2014, measured against the 2010-11 baseline.
Our province has just experienced more than three accidents which involved Durban University of Technology students, and the Ngwelezane community, and there was the recent Phongolo accidents. As we converge here in the province, a memorial service for seven people is being organised by the Department of Transport today. This road carnage robs us of breadwinners and young people who are the future of our nation. This also has a negative impact on our economy. Perhaps the Department of Transport should persuade the Justice and Constitutional Development department to consider imposing harsher sentences for offenders involved in the deaths on our roads.
Mhlawumbe Sihlalo, kubalulekile ukuthi sike sibuyekeze leli gama elithi ingozi ngoba umuntu unquma ukukha nje utshwala bese engena emgwaqweni athathe imonto, ekubeni kwaleyo monto ayikho esimweni sokuba emgwaqweni, ajike futhi angayilandela imithetho yomgwaqo. Lokhu kweza ukuthi singaboni ukuthi ingozi, sibone sengathi isehlo nje ebesivele sihlelwe umuntu ovese wazikhuhlela utshwala wangena emgwaqweni walimaza abantu noma wabulala abantu. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, maybe it is important that we revisit this term "accident". When a person decides to drink alcohol and then gets into a car that is not roadworthy and hits the road, and moreover the person does not adhere to the traffic rules we should not regard this as an accident but as something intentional done by a person who indulged in alcohol and took to the road and hurt or killed people.]
Our province has just hosted a successful road safety summit, where many resolutions were made. Our portfolio committee also commits itself to giving more support and ensuring that all resolutions taken by stakeholders are implemented in an effective and efficient manner.
A comprehensive driver education support programme will also impact positively on the reduction of road fatalities. The envisaged increased throughput of drivers to 1 million by 2014 is attainable. We will execute our oversight role in terms of this programme to ensure smooth and speedy implementation.
Our province still has a huge number of learners who travel long distances to access schools. Hence, scholar transport has become a necessity to address this challenge. Hon Minister, we hope that the policy which entails guidelines for the implementation of this programme has been finalised, or is about to reach its final stage. We cannot keep our rural communities waiting in this regard. This programme will also bring about changes in people's lives, and the matric results will also improve.
On issues of financing, a noble programme should be unlocked. This also requires provinces to finalise the location of this programme and put an end to some ongoing debates between the Departments of Basic Education and Transport in this regard.
Chairperson, we fully support the budget for this department. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chair, I'll start by saying, not in an attempt to glorify what has been said by the MEC from the Western Cape and the hon Groenewald, but to remind them: before they even look at the Western Cape, they must go back and look at Leeu-Gamka, De Doorns, Beaufort West and Oudtshoorn, and then come back and tell us the state of the roads in these areas. According to them, the Western Cape is Cape Town and it doesn't include all these other places that are battling and are negatively affected. [Interjections.]
I got a note from the chair of the committee that, in fact, we need to start by appreciating what the department is doing. We have accepted that, Chair. The fact is that the department was able to honestly present before this House the challenges that they are faced with, and the things they are doing in order not to be trapped in the belief that it is too late and that there is nothing that they can do. Now, it is clear that there are plans in place; there are programmes in place; there are strategic areas that the department has identified in terms of how to intervene in transforming the transport sector and ensuring that it does not only benefit the minority party, but that the beneficiaries of that transformation are the working class and the poor.
Transformation, as we have noted, is a very challenging process, which requires complete change in both form and content. It is a process that needs to speak to both the immediate and the broader strategic interests of the country. Our immediate strategic interest as a country is to have inclusive economic growth that will ensure that there is a sustained increase in income of all members of society, not only a few, so as to be able to afford to meet the basic needs. Transport therefore plays that strategic role, because if our people are unable to go to work and so forth, they are then dislodged from the means of economic activity.
So, in achieving this immediate strategic objective or interest, we need radical changes in values, attitudes and relationships at all levels and, more specifically, within the policy and spending patterns in the department. This is an area we are worried about as the committee: the capacity and attitude of the members of the department, and whether they share the same passion with us as members of the committee. And this is a call that we are making as the committee: we would love to see this passion.
Our economy is in need of reliable, sustainable and safe public transport, but to achieve this requires, of course, firm commitment and bold approaches by us as the political leadership. It requires the commitment and the buy-in by the people's Parliament and an alignment of resources to achieve all these goals.
It needs a budget which will ensure that, in partnership, we address these challenges and inequalities that have been handed down by history, as the hon MEC from the Western Cape said. I wondered at some point whether he was a DA member or still a Progressive Federal Party member. I was not sure.
Hon Tau, please speak through me and not directly ...
Yes, Chair, through you. I was not sure when he addressed us whether he was still a PFP member or a DA member. I didn't know. I was quite confused.
That is why, as the NCOP, in our strategic framework plan 2009 to 2014, we have taken a decision to make development of economic infrastructure, especially roads, one of our key focus areas with regard to our oversight work. We did this with an understanding of the crucial role that roads play in the development and growth of our economy.
I would like to make use of some examples, because I think I must use the opportunity to deal with these kinds of challenges. Through you, Chair, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and officials from the department, we took Parliament to the people in the Free State, where we were confronted, as a committee and members, with a very serious challenge of the unintended consequences of a piece of legislation that we passed in Parliament, which was the Cross-Border Road Transport Act. We understood at the time we passed the Bill what its intention was. But now here is the snag. It doesn't only affect the Free State, because once it affects the Free State it means that it cuts across all borders of the Republic with our neighbouring countries.
The taxi operators in the Ficksburg area, historically, had an arrangement with operators from Lesotho in that the Lesotho operators would bring in passengers, drop them off at Ficksburg, and then the operators in Ficksburg would transport the passengers to Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and so on. But with this Act their economic base has been eroded. Here we are talking about people who responded to the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, people who are faced with serious debt in terms of their taxis. This is because their arrangement has been made illegal by the legislation, and not because of a lack of co-operation between the two groups of operators from both sides of the border. They still want to operate in the manner in which they were operating, because it was beneficial to both the operators of Lesotho and those of South Africa. The Lesotho operators can drop off passengers, but the minute they leave from that point the inspectors impound the taxis of the operators in the country.
The issue here is that we are saying that these are unintended consequences of that piece of legislation. But now what do we do? How do we address this? We are putting forward a proposal as the select committee that we put on hold all these punitive measures that the Act empowers the inspectors or the agency to implement. If we made more investigations, and if there is a need for an amendment to the Act, it wouldn't be wrong for the Act to come back so long as it brings back the economic benefits for the operators in the Ficksburg area. I'm raising this Ficksburg issue because I asked myself what was happening in the Thaba Tshweu border areas.
We went to Limpopo with our "Taking Parliament to the People" programme. There is this ugly thing in the deep rural areas of Limpopo, in the Greater Tubatse, with the Segwaigwai bridge crossing. Here they use a dangerous vehicle that takes young people, teachers and children across the river. What is important here is that we are aware that something is being done by the provincial department, because the last time we engaged with the province they said that they had serious limitations and without the necessary support from the national department they wouldn't be able to act. So, we thought that we needed to use this policy debate as a platform to raise some of these things - requesting the national department to intervene and assist the Limpopo province.
That goes not only for Limpopo, but also has to do with what is happening in the Eastern Cape. We are quite comfortable to provide the department with all the information so that it can assist.
The next issue we have been raising for I don't know how many years. Finally, I found great relief that with the visit of the President to the Eastern Cape recently, during an interview on the scholar transport issue the premier confirmed that the scholar transport matter was no longer an education issue but had been transferred to the department of transport in the province, and that all that needed to be done was to look at the modalities and the handing over of information and so forth.
Through you, Chairperson, hon Minister, what would be wrong in our having a national policy framework that says that all scholar transport should be taken away from education and belong to the department of transport in all our provinces? [Applause.] I think that will be one of the issues that will be looked at. [Interjections.]
On the upgrading of infrastructure and roads ...
Hon Tau, your time has expired.
As I conclude ... [Interjections.] On the issue of infrastructure - I have a list here ... [Interjections.]
Yes, in conclusion, Chair, we just want to make an appeal as the select committee, and as the ANC in particular, to the department that in dealing with potholes and all infrastructure upgrading, they should prioritise young people and young co-operatives. Thank you very much. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Madam Chair, I want to thank the speakers very much for the very constructive inputs that have been made here today. Let me start, perhaps, by paying tribute to the response that we have had regarding the funeral of our icon Mama Sisulu. The response that we have had is perhaps a tribute to her life, a leader of our people in all sectors. The response that we have had, for instance, in terms of transporting our people to bid farewell to her on Saturday has been amazing.
We have heard the entire taxi industry saying that they would be there, ferrying our people easily without much cost. We have heard the Public Utility Transport Corporation, Putco, and the bus industry saying generally that they would be there, ferrying our people free of charge. The trains of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Prasa, will be made available, including long-distance ones from Cape Town, the Eastern Cape, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal which will be leaving tomorrow for this funeral. This is very heartening and a tribute to the life that she lived. We want to record our appreciation for this.
Mama Sisulu fought for our freedom to vote, be ourselves and be free. That freedom did not only involve freedom to vote but also freedom of movement. What is freedom if you can move freely in Johannesburg or Soweto, but you can't move freely if you are at Ngcobo? Therefore, what we are doing, and all the contributions here are referring to, is extending the freedom of our people firmly to include freedom of movement, freedom to be able to choose whether to stay in an urban area or a rural one, and not because you are not going to have roads, water and electricity if you are out in a rural area. So that is a very important contribution.
We who remain here must make the dream that Mama Sisulu had of having complete freedom, including freedom of movement, a reality. We are saying that just as we have freedom in education and health care, let us also have that in transport as well. The contributions by all the speakers here have really said that this transport family has a task on its hands.
Let us use our collegiality, our familial bonds and our constructive ability to contribute. Let us perhaps deal with the age-old question - I've seen it being raised by President Obama even now - which is: How do we pay for transport infrastructure? The president of the United States, the president of one of the oldest democracies and most powerful economies, is still grappling with the question of how to pay for transport infrastructure.
Do you say the user pays? Do you say the taxpayer pays, for instance for the Gauteng freeway improvement, and at whose expense? Should it be at the expense of the people of Ngcobo? What do you do if you have this cake? How do you distribute it? Should you not make sure that all of us receive accelerated development such that those who don't have a road at all must have a road? How do we balance this?
Let's discuss this in a proper way. We have opened, to be specific, the toll road between Pretoria and Johannesburg. Let us have views on how we want to approach this. This is not a question that is going to be answered by Sibusiso Ndebele or Jeremy Cronin. It has to be answered by all of us. Let us put together all these ideas. What do we do?
A loan of R20 billion has been acquired to pay for building that road. How do you pay back the loan? Do you have the National Treasury, meaning all the taxpayers, do it, or do we do it in any particular way? Let us not have a goat that has escaped and say, yes, that's an escaped goat. It's a decision that is there now. The road is there and everything is there. What then do we do? It is those issues that we as this forum must actually address and ask how we proceed in a manner that sets a clear guideline for the future, because we are still going to have more of those. And what do we do?
We do need swift movement from East London to Durban. How are we going to pay for it? It must happen. There is no question about that. We were discussing that with the Eastern Cape premier. So this must happen. But how do we do it in a manner that is not going to punish people just because they are travelling? I think we need to do all those things.
Let me say thank you very much for the contributions. I thank the Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin, the director-general George Mahlalela and the entire staff of the department. Thank you for the excellent contribution that you have made, although this raises more questions for us to deal with. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.