House Chairperson, allow me to start off by thanking the Minister and Deputy Minister for the time they spent with the portfolio committee when it was analysing the budget. It is most unusual for a Minister to spend so much time, if any, with the committee. Thank you for respecting the important role that we play as a committee. [Applause.]
However, I query whether in future our Minister and Deputy Minister will be as present, because their department's annual performance plan indicates that spending on travel and subsistence is expected to increase to R31,8 million in the 2016-17 financial year, and I quote from the plan, "as a result of the Minister and Deputy Minister's needing to travel more often". Now, the amount of R31,8 million could easily cover 90 857 potholes. The mind boggles at where the Minister would need to travel to so much considering the many urgent and pressing issues she has to attend right here at home.
By far the biggest transport issue on the lips of South Africans at present is the e-tolls issue, which the public, almost unanimously, has rejected. This issue has been handled poorly from the very beginning. The voters of Gauteng have been making their feelings felt with their peaceful resistance campaign by not signing onto the e-tag system. Their feelings were further clearly demonstrated when they reduced the ANC's support from 64% in the 2009 election to 53% in this year's election. The ANC in Gauteng is now desperate to show its voters that it is on their side on this issue and is now trying to fool them into thinking that they are doing something positive on this issue.
The partly failed South African National Roads Agency Limited bond auction on 2 July, which raised only R275 million out of a total offering of R465 million, shows that investors are nervous. The announcement by the premier of Gauteng, David Makhura, of reviewing the e-tolls system is nothing more than a public relations stunt. The e-tolls system is governed by national legislation, therefore the only body that is empowered to legitimately review the system and make pronouncements on its future is Parliament, through the Portfolio Committee of Transport. The review panel must therefore be a parliamentary committee.
Why is Minister Peters remaining silent on this while Premier Makhura continues with this charade? The DA calls for the Minister to show leadership and support the need for the review of e-tolls to take place right here in Parliament. The terms of reference for this Gauteng e-toll review panel clearly indicates that the panel is not empowered to take any action against e-tolls. The people of South Africa need to see action on this and not just a talk-shop in Gauteng - one that has no legal powers. The cost of this review panel will take public funds away from other critical needs, yet it can make no meaningful change to the e-tolls scheme.
To add insult to injury, Sanral branding and vehicles are used at roadblocks conducted by other traffic enforcement agencies. Motorists are being intimidated to buy e-tags. This is being done without any legal basis. [Interjections.] Yes, I have seen it. I have already written to the head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Robert McBride, to request an urgent investigation into the use of the traffic enforcement agencies by Sanral for the purpose of coercing motorists to purchase e- tags.
The DA opposes the abuse of policing services, which should be spending their time upholding the law and keeping South Africans safe. It appears that Sanral's abuse does not stop here. The Minister needs to tell this House and, indeed, the citizens of South Africa if Sanral still intends to pursue the prosecution and criminalisation of some one million people who have not paid their e-toll bills. To do this will only serve to aggravate the implicit conflict between government and the public. The DA will continue to fight the e-tolls in its current form, which are an economic burden and were imposed on South Africans without any meaningful consultation.
The ANC's indifference to rail transport, which should be the backbone of public transport, caused a massive swing towards trucking and it is no coincidence that the road fatality rate has steadily increased since 1998, as the number of vehicles on our roads exceeded the traffic police's resources and competence. For example, the paucity of weighbridges and preferences to enforce speed instead of moving violations were directly responsible for the complete destruction of the N3 to Durban by overloaded trucks, resulting in it being rebuilt and tolled so heavily that it is now cheaper to fly to Durban than to drive.
Rail networks exist across our country and the efficiencies of rail versus road transport are well known. It takes one litre of diesel to transport one tonne of goods over 100 meters via road, compared to the same litre transporting one tonne for four kilometres on rail transport. Why are we even allowing this to happen? It appears that government is starting to understand that rail must be the backbone of any public transport system, and they must be congratulated on that. However, until I see the lion's share of the budget being allocated to rail and its development, I remain sceptical about government's seriousness about getting people off the roads. Currently, the largest amount in the budget is still allocated to roads and its infrastructure. With making rail the backbone of transport must come the assurance that using rail is indeed safe. However, reports in the media allege that the chief executive officer of the Railway Safety Regulator spent taxpayers' money to hire his friends and cronies. Has this been investigated, Minister?
This is not the only issue that government is slow to realise. The National Transport Master Plan, Natmap, is still outstanding and Minister Peters called for industry input only in October last year. How much longer will this take? I remember talking about Natmap back in 2009 when I first joined the transport committee.
It was highlighted in our portfolio committee deliberations that the National Scholar Transport Policy has been outstanding for years and has still not been finalised. In fact, during a presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Transport in the last Parliament, the Department of Transport's chief financial officer, Collins Letsoalo, admitted that after eight years the department has still not finalised its National Scholar Transport Policy.
Furthermore, after five years, the policy for the Shova Kalula project, a programme meant to provide an estimated one million bicycles to rural schools, has not been implemented either. Its pilot programme demonstrated a number of deficiencies. The department, it seems, has been unable to resolve these problems. In every Budget Vote on Transport speech I have delivered to date, I have spoken about road safety. More than 14 000 people lose their lives on South Africa's roads annually and despite the target of a 30% reduction in road fatalities, the Minister only achieved an embarrassing 0,79% reduction. The Western Cape transport department, however, has managed to achieve a 31% reduction since 2009.
South Africa is rated the worst out of 36 other countries when it comes to the number of road fatalities. South Africa's road fatalities per 100 000 inhabitants was at 27,6% deaths in 2011, according to the International Transport Forum's Road Safety Annual Report. These fatalities result in a huge socioeconomic cost, estimated to be at R306 billion per annum. The Minister must explain why, as reported in the World Health Organisation's report into road safety released last month, South Africa ranks 177th out of 182 countries studied for road fatalities. This is worse than any disease that we have in South Africa. [Interjections.] Well, you are doing nothing about it - 7,9% is embarrassing!
Why are road deaths increasing despite having a dedicated body, the Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, at its disposal and its mounting several high-profile road safety campaigns? The previous Minister of Transport, Ben Martins, recognised the need to shut down the RTMC, yet Minister Peters' new plan for the troublesome entity seems confusing and unclear despite our unacceptable road death figures year after year. The RTMC's underreporting on road deaths is compromised. It is clear that the RTMC is largely ineffectual in stemming the annual tide of these deaths. A major shift is therefore needed in how we approach road safety.
Why do the figures released by the Department of Transport over the last five years for road deaths differ vastly from mortality death studies performed by the national institute for mortality studies and the October 2012 report by the Medical Research Council into death certificates at mortuaries? I can't help thinking that the statistics provided by the department are massaged before they are made public.
The Minister and her Deputy Minister have their work cut out for them. I hope that by this time next year we will have more to celebrate as there is little to celebrate at the moment. Her first step would be to travel less and sort out these problems right here at home. Thank you, Chair.