Hon Speaker, hon Minister, the economy of our country is critically dependent on an effective transport system. I think that this budget adequately addresses areas such as development, regulation, support of infrastructure and certain other prime performance areas. However, hon Minister, I still think that we should have much more emphasis on infrastructure to make a major a contribution to the economic empowerment of persons that have not been economically empowered. Therefore we think that your transport policy must be fundamentally linked to the socioeconomic needs of the population.
With regard to this budget, hon Minister, we are concerned about the communities' safety on train services provided by Metrorail and the SA Rail Commuter Corporation. We know that a lot of money has been made available, especially for SARCC. Concerning this pilot project that has been introduced in the Western Cape to reduce crime, namely the reintroduction of railway police and close circuit television, is the hon Minister satisfied that this year's budget has made sufficient provision for commuters using public transport? Is the hon Minister satisfied that there is sufficient provision to protect especially innocent commuters from being killed in those trains? I thank you. The FD will support this Budget Vote.