Chairperson, perhaps I must not address myself to hon Watson because I think he must have been on some fishing expedition. I might waste my time addressing myself to him, but suffice it to say that my province engaged thoroughly in the processing of this Bill. We did have public hearings on 19 May, and the attendance was very good, with many participants - except for the taxi organisations. We did discuss our mandate in the committee and adopted it and it was also adopted in the House last week on Thursday.
I will come back to the issues that were raised in the public hearings but as Gauteng we think that the passing of this Bill could not have come at a better time than this. It is being passed when the province has placed public transport at the centre of development in the province.
As we speak, the province is engaged in the adoption of an integrated public transport strategy approach. This process is involved in the spirit of Gauteng being a globally competitive city region. All 50 municipalities in the province have reached agreement around the strategy that Gauteng should have a single transport authority that will be established in January 2007.
The public transport strategy cannot be discussed outside the taxi recap because, as other speakers have said, the majority of commuters in our country use taxis to reach their destinations. Whilst the killings in taxis are no longer in the news and the newspaper headlines, these still continue to afflict the industry. The TRP will ensure that the killings in the taxi industry become a thing of the past.
As a province, which was severely affected by the killings that followed the Satawu strike, we saw that as a setback to us, because people will move away from public transport, if such things do occur.
What is also happening in the province is that last year the province held a commuter indaba, which was attended by more than 1 000 delegates. We think this indaba was very important because it brought together commuters from rail, taxis and buses into one forum. One of the resolutions taken by the commuter indaba was that a provincial commuter organisation must be launched in the province, which is going to happen this year.
The province is also engaged in the construction of the Gautrain. I think the Minister of Finance spoke about it. The concept of the Gautrain has evolved and developed from the one that was envisioned in 2001. The Gautrain will now be integrated into the broader public transport plan in the province.
Our province, Gauteng, will have no problem in dealing with the challenges of hosting a very successful World Cup in 2010, less than four years from now. At least, three stadiums that were earmarked for use during the 2010 World Cup are in the province. The province is engaged in projects around this, which are going to link the Johannesburg International Airport to the city, improving the signage and building other roads.
Tomorrow we will start to engage, in the province, with the discussion plans for public transport month, which will take place in September, together with Car Free Day. Whilst we know that public transport is not ready for these challenges, we as a province want to make our people conscious of the issue of public transport.
I think some of the issues that were raised in the public hearings have been raised here, but none of them caused us to change any of the clauses of the Bill. So, the province would like to support the Bill without any amendment. I thank you. [Applause.]