Definitely, hon Chairperson; most definitely.
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister of Transport, colleagues, I just want to begin by declaring that it is after three on Friday afternoon and the whole of the IFP component is still present. [Laughter.]
The public transport system of our country can be divided into three main categories, a public transport system for the cities; a public transport system for the townships; and a public transport system for the rural and deep rural areas.
The first category is a much better public transport system, one close to world-class if not world-class, that enjoys immediate and spontaneous attention from both the public and the private sector, and that enjoys a bigger slice of our financial resources from both the public and private sector.
The second category, involving high volumes of the population, which is getting less attention, is highly active in driving and contributing to the economy of our country and gets a very small piece of the pie of the country's economy from both the public and the private sectors.
The last category is only remembered when everything else has been done, has no private sector support and gets very limited public sector attention. When it comes to the life and the lifespan of resources, the rule of the jungle prevails - survival of the fittest.
This scenario paints the picture - and this goes without saying - that the efforts and movement towards achieving the Integrated Public Transport System for all areas in our country must be expedited. It is 20 years into democracy, and our transport system still reflects this kind of projection. This is not acceptable.
The state of our national road network is in good to excellent condition, receiving world-class management, and there is excellent monitoring and maintenance. Most of our provincial roads are in a state of deterioration. There is a shortage of skilled personnel, financial resources are not adequate to face the challenges and thus the situation gets worse and worse.
With our municipal roads, it depends on where you are. Metros and secondary cities have excellent road network infrastructure, but as you move away from the city centres the situation gets unacceptable.
The condition of the country's gravel roads, which constitute around 70% of the country's road network, are in a state of neglect. One, however, acknowledges the department's report that in order to deal with all the road infrastructure repair backlogs in this country a total of about R149 billion would be needed, yet the department's total budget for all its programmes for this year is only R48,7 billion.
The department needs to speed up the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme. We hope that when the process has been completed under this programme, there will be improvements in the way this industry is regulated and run.
A matter of grave concern with our transport these days is the Gauteng e- tolls and the manner that this issue has been handled so far. We, as government, need to devise a single approach to solutions on this matter. We cannot afford a situation where we appear to be competing against one another, national, provincial and local.
All the controversies that have so far surrounded this issue show that the problem is bigger than was anticipated. However, setting up one government sphere against another will not help to solve the problem. It would rather perpetuate it until it reaches uncontrollable levels. Sanity must prevail and something sensible needs to happen. I am glad that the hon Minister also spoke about the rail system. The directors-general and the acting directors-general know about it because I spoke about these at the select committee meeting. The rail between Harding and Port Shepstone, especially, must be used to remove the big trucks from our road; so that the rail can assist in eliminating the accidents. Thank you very much. [Applause.]