Mr Chairperson, hon members, the Portfolio Committee on Transport processed the Transport Laws Repeal Bill. All political parties who are active in the Portfolio Committee on Transport adopted the Bill with no reservations.
The Department of Transport came to brief the Portfolio Committee on Transport on what this Bill sought to achieve. At the first briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Transport, the department came unprepared and presented the Portfolio Committee on Transport with a list of the transport laws that this Bill would repeal without outlining the provisions of such laws.
The Portfolio Committee on Transport found the failure to provide the provisions of the said Acts by the officials of the department unacceptable. This would have meant that members of the Portfolio Committee on Transport was expected by the Department of Transport to discuss the repealing of transport laws, the provisions of which the members would have had no understanding of as some of these transport laws were passed by previous parliaments and most of them during the apartheid era.
We commend the officials from the department who accepted this weakness and committed to presenting to the Portfolio Committee on Transport the provisions of the laws that this Bill seeks to repeal. That process was followed by public hearings. We received only two submissions on the Bill and held public hearings on them. Transnet submitted that Parliament should not repeal the following Acts: the Railway Construction Act, Act 57 of 1961; the Second Railway Construction Act, Act 58 of 1963; the Railway Construction Act, Act 5 of 1965; and the Railway Construction Act, Act 17 of 1966. Transnet argued that all these Acts referred to agreements concluded between the government of the Republic of South Africa and its Railways and Harbours Administration, hereinafter called "the Administration".
The said Acts specifically empowered "the Administration" to give effect to the respective agreements, a right that was ultimately transferred to Transnet in terms of the Legal Succession to the South African Transport Services Act, Act 9 of 1989.
All these agreements confer disposing rights on "the Administration" in respect of the railway line that is the subject of the Act in question. These disposing rights still appear to be in existence and their duration may be summarised as follows: the Railway Construction Act, Act 57 of 1961, expires in 2012; the Second Railway Construction Act, Act 58 of 1963, expires in 2013; the Railway Construction Act, Act 5 of 1965, expires in 2015; and the Railway Construction Act, Act 17 of 1966, expires in 2016.
Transnet submitted that the repeal of the four above-mentioned Acts should be delayed until the right in question has expired. The committee acceded to Transnet's submission. A second submission was made by a member of the public from Melmoth, Mr Bhekizenzo Ngobese. The Portfolio Committee on Transport commended Mr Ngobese for his courage and viewed him as an example of public participation in lawmaking. Mr Ngobese's submission was, however, more relevant to efforts to reduce the number of fatal accidents and the congestion of roads through speed limits.
The Portfolio Committee on Transport then resolved to defer the discussion on Mr Ngobese's submission to a time when the committee would engage in discussions on fatal accidents and the congestion of roads. The Portfolio Committee on Transport adopted the Bill.
We recommend that the House pass the Transport Laws Repeal Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]