Hon House Chairperson of the session, hon Minister of the Department of Transport, Comrade Fikile Mbalula, hon Deputy Minister of the Department of Transport, Comrade Dikeledi Magazi, hon members of the Portfolio Committee of Transport, chairpersons and whips from other committees, hon members who are here with us today, officials of the Department of Transport, chairpersons and CEOs of all our entities and their officials who are with us here today, media houses that are with us today, ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon to all of you.
Transport is a cornerstone in all our lives whether one does business, tourism, schooling, swimming, running and whatever that may come to mind. Even the coming back of Bafana Bafana from the Land of the Pharaohs will need transport of course.
This Budget Vote like others is a reflection of the financing of the ANC- led government policies, constitutional responsibilities and international obligations. It is further informed by a five year Medium Term Strategic Framework from 2014 to 2019.
The priorities for the year 2019 were broadly set out in the February 2019 state of the nation address and were of course added in the June state of the nation address. Once the executive draft the Budget, we the legislative arm of the state, we have the oversight mandate of the Budget and must approve it together with each of its votes of funds. This process of oversight if done appropriately will enable the ANC to access whether the department and its entities has managed to implement its policies or not. So, we are seized with the task to criticise, support and to work together with the department to make sure that we deliver to all the people of South Africa.
Those who have voted us into power and also those who normally tell us as we campaign that they are not going to vote should be part of our delivery. We there not fail on this mandate because our failure in transport is a failure of all other departments to carry their mandate whether is it in deep blue oceans or high up above the sky because they all need a mode of transport to do their work.
House Chair, it is a well known fact that the hon Minister, he is only some few months in the department. It is here where we want him to practically use the expression "fear fokol" as he normally calls himself to deal with the following challenges in the department: Our department has been working on a skeletal staff with no director-general for some time now. So, we expect movement in the correction of these anomalies.
We are also aware that of course, in the absence of the full complement, the department is operating on the basis of a lot of acting and once the above is addressed this situation will dissipate.
The department and its entities use far too many consultants and this matter was even raised by the Auditor-General in the past. Transformation seems to be great this department and most of its entities when one considers the Budget of the department and the percentages that goes to Africans in particular.
The Gauteng e-toll issue must be attended to with the urgency it deserves and all the best to the Minister in dealing with this
matter. [Applause.] Single integrated transport system must follow the meaning of "khawuleza" and ensure that the tension that normally arises between the owners of public transport is a thing of yesterday.
The hon leadership on the speeding up of the Road Accident fund Bill will help all of us before the victims of the accidents in this country bleeds to death. Our people, the poor masses in this instance are robbed daylight by those who follow accidents and make them sign on hospital beds and vanished with their money. We need to ensure that our people, the correct beneficiaries, are able to claim direct from the fund without any hiccups.
South Africans are dying in numbers on roads. I am sure everybody knows this and we must stop it. Most of our boards, including the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, are operating as the Minister has said on temporary board members and that does not bring stability in this all important sector. To make matters worse, some of these temporary board members
instead of focusing on what they must do, they are busy purging each other.
Prasa must "khaweleza" in implementing projects like the Moloto Rail, fix the problems that led to the President to stuck in a train during our election trail, find the lasting solution on the burning of trains in the Western Cape, implement the bullet train to cover all the provinces that were mentioned by the hon President. I am sure the President has just forgotten to mention Free State in his speech. So, as you implement hon Minister, ensure that you don't forget this. [Applause.]
Transformation still has to see daylight in entities like Maritime Transport and Civil Aviation. We do not have any doubt that the Minister will be able to fix this horrible situation.
Due to time constrains, we are still to meet all the entities in the department. We are ready to support those who are doing their best like the cross boarder operations, the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, Civil Aviation and Maritime
Transport to mention but the few to deal with legislation hiccups and other challenges from our side.
The ANC says now is the time to ensure action not leap service. We in this portfolio committee, we are here just for that, watch the space. We support the Budget Vote. Thank you.