Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members and our guests, at a function on 31 March to mark the completion of the Durban harbour entrance widening and deepening project, Theunis Steenkamp, the Project Director of the Natal Corridor, Natcor, made a presentation in which his first slide began with the words: "The saying goes, 'The job is not over until the fat lady sings.'" The next slide showed the Queen Mary II, the world's biggest passenger liner, in all her graciousness entering the harbour with the caption: "The fat lady arrived on 23 March. The fat lady has sung."
This R3 billion project is one of Transnet's key projects in its rolling five-year R93 billion capital investment plan. Transnet's acting chief executive officer, Mr Chris Wells, says:
This port is key to Transnet's growth strategy and our objective to improve customer service, safety and environmental compliance, contain operating costs as well as to take advantage of revenue and volume growth opportunities.
He goes on to say:
Operationally, it will help us meet the stringent targets we have set ourselves on improving efficiency in our ports through reducing shipping delays and improving terminal operations.
This project started in May 2007 and was completed at the end of February 2010 - a month ahead of schedule - with some 6,5 million hours worked demolishing, dredging and constructing, providing work for thousands of people, whether unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, or specialist skilled, all benefiting from the project.
Colleen Dardagan in The Mercury dated 1 April 2010 writes that while the global downturn had resulted in a 20% drop in container handling over the past year, Moira Moses, group executive in charge of Transnet projects, said that growth over the next 30 years was expected to more than double. She also said, "We have to increase capacity to compete with the best in the world. Shipping trends are changing. We are seeing much larger vessels carrying greater capacity."
So often the picture painted is that we are Third World, backward, and incompetent, when in fact we are out there competing with the best in the world. [Applause.]
The portfolio committee visited the new port of Coega in the Eastern Cape. Owing to the sensitivity of the environment in which the port is constructed and operates, Transnet implemented a poison-free system of monitoring and controlling rodents inside the port. The release of endemic birds of prey, owls and rock kestrels, back into the port area has returned the previously overpopulated rodent areas to their natural state.
Renee de Klerk, a Mott MacDonald employee, is the project environmental manager of the Transnet Capital Projects at the port. After winning the Mott MacDonald Sapling Environmentalist of the Year Award in 2008, she went on to win the Oak Award in Bristol, in the United Kingdom, for her work on the port of Coega's urban raptor project and for her continuing professional excellence in improving the environmental and sustainable performance of the port. Congratulations to Renee. [Applause.]
The 52nd annual conference of the ANC emphasised the importance of pursuing a rigorous programme of economic transformation. One of these focus areas is the creation of decent work opportunities, and this was captured in the ANC's 2009 election manifesto, namely "the creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods". Decent work is the foundation of the fight against poverty and inequality. The creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods is central to the ANC-led government's agenda, which has been supported in the budget.
To this end, the President announced in his state of the nation address that government is planning to spend R846 billion on infrastructure programmes in the next four years. Transnet will play a major role in this spending, which will need to create more jobs to reduce the country's high unemployment rate. As part of our responsibility to Parliament, the portfolio committee will need to play a vigorous oversight role to ensure that this happens.
This will include Transnet's capacity expansion programme. According to Mr Wells, Transnet has spent about R74 billion of its R93 billion set aside for this programme. The money has been invested in the port of Coega in Port Elizabeth, the Durban port entrance channel, a new multiproduct pipeline from Durban to Johannesburg, as well as in 300 new refurbished locomotives and hundreds of wagons for coal and iron-ore export lines.
According to an unpublished study, Transnet's infrastructure programme will enable more than 550 000 jobs to be created in the economy over the next five years. However, we need to ask the question: Which people in the unemployment queue will benefit? The biggest demand for employment will be people who are unskilled or semi-skilled. As Parliament, we will engage with Transnet regarding these 550 000 jobs - how many are direct and how many will be indirect - which will make a substantial difference to the lives of the families who will benefit.
We note Transnet's commitment to skills development. In the 2009 annual report, Mr Wells writes: One of the key drivers of organisational success is to harness and apply a high level of skills among the workforce. Transnet remains committed to having employees, at all levels, equipped with the requisite skills sets. This is demonstrated through the company's investment in excess of R420 million in skills development.
During our oversight visit of Transnet's rail engineering, we visited the School of Engineering, where 269 learners were being trained in different trades. The committee would like to see these training programmes rolled out to other enterprises and entities. It was encouraging to see female electricians doing electrical work on those massive locomotives.
During the year under review, the company assisted or sponsored the following students: 315 engineering bursars, 290 technical bursars, 11 learners in the Training Outside Public Practice programme, 30 bursars on the Thuthuka programme, and 40 graduates in training.
It is critical that we get the right people in the right jobs, people with a commitment to what they are doing. Transnet engaged with their employees, and together they defined a winning culture for Transnet, and in 2008 they unveiled the culture charter to close on 30 000 employees.
The launches were a huge success, with employees and the labour union partners spontaneously embracing the "Masihambe" [Let's move together] song. The charter process, arguably one of the largest ever undertaken in the country, has attracted the world's attention. The US-based Wharton School of Business is considering writing this up as a case study for global best practice.
I must point out that Transnet is self-funding, and since 2005 has not received a single government guarantee to back any of its borrowings. All borrowings are made on the strength of its balance sheet.
The ANC would like to congratulate the Transnet team on a job well done and would like to thank everybody, including all the workers, who have worked tirelessly with great commitment to making a great success of this state- owned enterprise. The ANC supports the budget for the department. [Applause.]