Chairperson, from 6 to 10 September 2010, members of this House travelled the length and the breadth of this country to investigate the core issues that have bedevilled our communities. Without doubt this genuine report is the culmination and the end product of that exercise. We are concerned that our processes are too slow in addressing their needs. We can no longer delay our people's social and economic emancipation.
Transport is a basic necessity for sustainable social and economic development. It plays a catalytic role in addressing poverty and development needs, as well as correcting spatial distortions. In practice, responsibility for the delivery of transport infrastructure falls mainly on the municipal and provincial spheres of government, assisted by the national Department of Public Works and the SA National Roads Agency.
Issues that have been raised cut across all provinces. The only difference is that they can be categorised into rural and urban challenges. We need to move with speed and sometimes also take bold and controversial decisions in the interests of our people.
We discovered that people in rural areas don't have access by road to their homesteads in provinces like Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, to mention but a few. This makes it difficult for them to receive essential services, as they are not accessible to ambulances, police vehicles and taxis. There are no bridges or pedestrian bridges that link them with other villages. During the rainy season people are cut off from civilisation. It becomes difficult for them to reach towns or adjacent townships. Worse still, pupils can't attend school. Some of those who attempt to go to school drown.
Our municipalities can't address these needs, either through a lack of funds or skills, or through bad planning. I'm happy because the Minister has responded to this. Public Works should be vigilant in the issuing of tenders for projects like the building, rehabilitation and paving of roads. Wrong choices lead to the noncompletion of projects, nonpayment of workers and noncompliance with labour laws, as has been experienced in the Free State. Some of these companies lack technical skills, which results in shoddy work that denies our people quality services.
Provincial and national roads have become death traps because roads are not maintained. Potholes have turned into death holes. We cannot build a successful economy when our roads are in such a mess. We must also be wary that roads that were built as infrastructure for the Fifa World Cup do not degenerate into such conditions.
The Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, was introduced to provide skills to those who did not have skills, workers and contractors, while at the same time addressing the backlogs that there were. However, those who acquired these skills cannot be absorbed into the mainstream labour force.
Some of our officials are prone to corruption and bribery, especially in the traffic department. They are milking our people dry because of their greediness. It is a cancer that should be nipped in the bud.
The other issue that was raised is the provision of scholar transport. There is no consistency in provinces with regard to the provision of scholar transport. It is left to the mercy of the provinces. When provinces have to cut budget spending, the first victim is scholar transport. This happens in the middle of the year and hampers pupils' progress.
In townships in provinces like Gauteng there is a lack of good roads and stormwater drainage system. When new townships are established, no infrastructure is provided.
But it is not all doom and gloom. We must be self-critical and also accept constructive criticism in order to constructively address these challenges that confront us. We have accomplished our mission by positively identifying these challenges, and we must now come up with solutions.
The procurement system needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. In the unveiling of the ANC local manifesto the President said that shoddy contractors faced being blacklisted, and changes to the tendering process would make the process more transparent at the local government level. He warned that contractors who failed to deliver work or performed poorly would be forbidden from doing business with any government structure. The onus is on departments to implement what the President has alluded to.
Municipalities should also be assisted with planning and budgetary processes.
These are some of the problems that are bedevilling our municipalities. They need to get their priorities right, because we cannot allow a situation where the building of offices is prioritised rather than providing access roads to communities who have been consistently asking for this facility for the past 17 years. Moreover, there must be strong monitoring by the national and provincial governments of these issues that have been raised.
We also need to bring services that have been outsourced back into our departments, like the Department of Public Works. We cannot allow our roads to be death traps, while in the previous regime structures like the Transvaal Provincial Administration, TPA, the Provincial Administration of the Orange Free State, PAO, the Cape Provincial Administration, CPA, and others successfully constructed and maintained roads. We need to bring them back immediately. In so doing we will be addressing what the President has said, that this year is the year of job creation.
Let me quote what the current Minister of Public Works has said:
The closure of these workshops meant unemployment for many skilled individuals. It also meant a loss of skills that are necessary to the development of our country.
I fully agree with you, hon Minister. Let us open these workshops and get people employed. Only then will our people receive quality service. Transnet is just a shadow of what the SA Railways was. It has become inefficient, unreliable and unsafe for commuters. If we can introduce Shinkansen, the speed train that we experienced in Tokyo, Japan, then our problems will be half won. If this train can cover a distance which takes one and a half hours by car in 18 minutes, then we have a solution to our transport problems.
On the issue of scholar transport, let me repeat what I said last year. Let the national Department of Transport take over.
We always say it is easier said than done. Let's change that and say it is easier done than said. The ball is in our court. Let the nation work.
Makusetshenzwe. [Ihlombe.] [Let us work. [Applause.]]