Minister, there is a podium here and you can use it. It is not comfortable to speak from there. Deputy Minister, you may also use the podium when you speak. [Laughter.]
Chairperson and hon members, during the department's Budget Vote on 3 July, we made the point that a country is only developed once its people have unfettered access to water, energy, transport and communications, but of course that should be preceded by peace and democracy.
Today is an important day because we are addressing provinces. It is in provinces and municipalities where we can best answer the question of whether South Africa is a developing or a developed country. It is in provinces where we will confront the question on how long will we be satisfied with being a developing and not a developed country. It is provinces where the issue of uneven development is revealed in all its starkness. It is in provinces and municipalities that are at the coalface of service delivery, right up to village and street level.
When President Jacob Zuma delivers the state of the nation address, and when premiers talk of the state of provinces, someone should be concerned and talk of the state of the village. Development is national, provincial, but it is also, and primarily, local. Therefore, someone should speak about this particular sphere. This government has strengthened its capacity to undertake long-term development planning. This is to assist national, provincial and local government, as well as all state entities to better plan, prioritise and co-ordinate their service delivery programmes.
Consequently, as the Department of Transport, our plans should relate to the national plan, which in turn links the provinces and municipalities into the national planning grid. We have started this co-ordination through our public transport plan, the 2010 Fifa World Cup transport plans, transport infrastructure development, freight logistics and corridor development.
In line with President Zuma's state of the nation address on 3 June 2009, we have adopted a zero-tolerance stance when it comes to corruption. At the Department of Transport, we are committed to the reform and tightening of the regulatory regime and instruments dealing with anticorruption, particularly with regards to supply chain management, driving licence testing and the Road Accident Fund. Through this House, as well as platforms such as the extended Minmec, which includes provincial departments of transport, municipalities and Department of Transport agencies, we will instil this culture throughout the transport family. In this regard, our first extended Minmec and transport family meeting last Thursday on 2 July 2009 was very promising.
In order to address fraud and corruption in the driving licence system, we are moving towards computerised testing systems and have rolled out mobile and fixed stations in parts of the country. KwaZulu-Natal already has 21 fixed stations and two mobile stations; Gauteng has one fixed station and two mobile stations; and Mpumalanga has three fixed stations and one mobile station. One of our key focus areas will therefore relate to advancing the co-ordination, implementation and integration of transport activities across the three spheres of government.
Just before the elections in April, the taxi industry approached President Zuma about the bus rapid transit, BRT, system, and he told them to defer negotiations until after the elections. During the state of the nation address, hon President Zuma indicated that the Minister of Transport would resume discussions with the industry by 11 June 2009. Indeed, on 11 June we met with over 2 000 representatives of the industry made up of taxi associations and their organised structures at Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg. At this meeting we announced the formation of a national joint working group on public transport.
This week we are finalising the names of the representatives for the working group. From the side of government, the working group will comprise of representatives from the national and provincial Department of Transport, as well as the 2010 host cities. We have agreed that members of the working group, both on the side of government and the taxi industry, should have a full mandate from their structures because they will be making binding decisions. We aim that, hopefully, by the end of September, there will be no outstanding matters with regard to the taxi industry. There should be a normal relationship with this important economic sector. You cannot always have a problem.
Government is taking this matter very seriously and therefore it has received attention from the highest level. We also want to commend the taxi industry for the serious manner in which they have been engaging with us on this issue. Both government and the taxi industry are committed to finding a lasting solution to all outstanding matters. The taxi industry plays a key role in the transportation of our people. Roughly 65% of our people use taxis as public transport.
Therefore we have tailored our approach to address real issues in the taxi industry. The pillars of this engagement are: integrated public transport networks; implementation of the bus rapid transit system networks; Taxi Subsidisation and Taxi Recapitalisation Programmes; enterprise development; and legislation, licensing and regulatory issues. The challenge facing the taxi industry is to take part in the transport sector in its entire value chain. As government, we recognise that this industry represents a critical entrypoint for black people into the mainstream economy of South Africa. The challenge is to agree on how best this could be done in a meaningful way within a proper regulatory framework.
In terms of road safety, we would like to focus on the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, Aarto, the point demerit system and improved security features on the card licences. We would like to ensure that the process to roll out Aarto and the demerit system is fully under way. In the interim, we will consider certain road traffic amendments in order to ensure the suspension and/or cancellation of driving licences as mandatory penalties on a wider basis. It is not really left loose, depending on the presiding officer in the judiciary.
A birth certificate, identity document, driver's licence and passport are the most important documents for an individual. The first two define that you exist and the other two define your wellbeing. To this end, we have extended the contract of the current service provider of the smart card driving licenceses to December of this year, since it lapsed in April. We will use the tender process to ensure that the latest product is tamperproof and has improved security features. From next year, you should not be in possession of a driver's licence and a death certificate at the same time. [Laughter.] A death certificate should automatically cancel a driver's licence. Once there is a death certificate, your registration as a voter is automatically cancelled. Today, we have many people with death certificates, but their driver's licences are still being used quite regularly.
Working with Home Affairs, we will ensure that the new driver's licences have enhanced security and unquestionable integrity to be accepted in our country and internationally. This could assist towards ensuring that a driver's licence forms part of our primary identification documents. In the United States, social security documents and the driver's licences are the primary identification documents. Here the integrity of the driver's licence is not yet accepted, neither at Home Affairs, nor by banks.
Rural development is one of the key focus areas of this government. The role of transport in this regard cannot be overstated. A number of our people in rural areas are poor, but one of the characteristics of poverty is the inability to access essential services of government. Rural poverty is therefore also characterised by transport asset poverty, where roads and public transport are not available. We should have a balanced enhancement of our institutional arrangements for us to achieve increased investment, job creation, poverty alleviation and sustainable social and economic development.
We are also planning to extend the rural road maintenance and the contractor development programme to other provinces using labour-intensive methods that have been tried and tested, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and other provinces where infrastructure development creates thousands of jobs. This will form part of our contribution to job creation so that we have a significant contribution to what the President announced as the creation of 500 000 jobs by December this year.
We are going to make the following transport infrastructure investments during the current Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period: about R18 billion for passenger rail infrastructure; R70 billion for infrastructure, the bulk of which is road infrastructure; R20 billion for airports infrastructure; and R19,6 billion for public transport infrastructure for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Among important projects that are funded by the public transport infrastructure and systems grant are the following: public transport links and facilities; public transport interchange facilities; rail infrastructure and systems upgrade; intermodal facilities; Intelligent Transport Systems facilities; and nonmotorised transport facilities.
Hon members, we are moving very fast towards an integrated public transport system. This is necessary to ensure efficiency and to move us closer to the status of a developed economy. The transport modes should be integrated in order to deal with the challenge of the last mile. The last mile refers to people not being able to get home because, for instance, they arrive at a train station when the taxis and buses have already stopped operating. This could be avoided through better integration of the various modes. Distances between these modes must also be cut down drastically.
We are already implementing integrated ticketing to facilitate the movement of various transport modes in municipalities. In as far as buses are concerned, the operator of Durban Transport has cited inadequate subsidies and escalating fuel costs as key to their difficulties. Together with the eThekwini Metro and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport we will find alternative operators as a matter of urgency. We will appoint new operators who will start on 1 August 2009 for a period of 12 months. The city is finalising discussions with taxi and bus services to provide additional trips during July to maintain ongoing services. Buses remain part of our plans to move our people.
During the 2010 Fifa World Cup, all host cities and their respective municipalities should be able to transport soccer fans within transport plans. In this regard, in our discussions with Fifa representatives and Minmec, we agreed to have dedicated officials from national and provincial departments who would be dealing with matters of transport and who will be answerable to the department of transport in the cities, provinces and nationally.
Rea Vaya in Johannesburg is there at a cost of R329 million. Nelson Mandela Bay has the Khulani Corridor. Inner City Distribution and BRT networks in Tshwane cost R104 million. There is the BRT on the Klipfontein Corridor along the N2 Airport City in Cape Town; the Warwick Junction in Durban; and the infrastructure upgrading projects in Limpopo. We hosted a successful Confederations Cup and there should be no reason why we should not be able to do so next year.
Government has invested R25 billion over the MTEF period to upgrade passenger rail, and this is going well. Part of that includes rail security. We have already rolled out more than 1 700 rail police who are currently active in patrolling in the rail environment so that people use the rail transport in a more secure manner.
On the question of aviation, the Airports Company South Africa, Acsa, is progressing with its five-year investment programme - O R Tambo International at R2,65 billion; Cape Town International Airport at R714 million; Upington at R33 million; Bloemfontein at R43 million; Durban at R65 million; East London at R91 million; La Mercy in Durban at R6,5 billion, which is almost R7 billion; and Port Elizabeth at R52 million.
I hereby table our budget for the 2009-10 financial year which is R23,7 billion. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members of the NCOP and guests, I take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister and the Deputy Minister on their appointments. Your experience in transport will ensure that the department is in a good state.
Transport is the heart of any country in the world's economy. All of us know that when a country's transport system collapses, the economy of that country also dies. Hon Minister, I am afraid that this will cost you and your department hard work to bring South Africa back on track with a more suitable and cost-effective policy to save the transport situation in South Africa.
A well-maintained transport and road infrastructure allows people to get to work, children to get to school and the population in general to move around. Over the past years, South Africa lost millions of rands on collapsing rail infrastructure. That brought about a big increase in heavy, overloaded trucks on national roads. No one can blame any investor in the country for making use of road transport, because there are no other alternatives that are reliable.
A truck that is 10% overloaded causes more than double the damage of a legally loaded vehicle, amounting to billions of rands per annum.
This brings me to another headache on South African roads. In some of the provinces, thousands of rands were spent on weighbridges that are not in a workable condition because of a lack of officials and skilled people. To close all escape routes on national roads for overloaded trucks, the department must make use of mobile weighbridges that will be more cost- effective. The DA wants to know if provinces have policies to operate these expensive infrastructures. If they were in working condition, there would be an immediate relief in the strain on already overburdened roads.
The DA strongly supports the idea of Transport putting 20 000km of rail in the hands of the private sector on a concession base. This will immediately allow more entrepreneurs to get involved in rail transport and will also create a lot of new jobs in the more rural areas of the country. This will also fit into open-opportunity society, where people who want to become something in life, will be able to provide for themselves and their families. AgriSA and forestry are very excited about this new challenge from Transport. This will also create a lot of new sustainable jobs in the long term for many people in South Africa.
The Minister and the department must look into the problem of shortage of technically skilled people and engineers to work on road maintenance and upgrading. To get highly skilled and professional people in the department, the department should offer market-related packages.
Promises have been made by the department that the taxi recapitalisation programme will scrap about 20 000 old taxis a year. At this stage, it seems that only 5 000 taxis have been scrapped per year. If we look into the budget for this programme, less money is available than in previous years. It will take the department 15 years to scrap all old taxis. That is not workable, hon Minister. A serious new alternative must see the light of day to help the taxi industry to get a face lift. If we look at road accidents on South African roads, taxis are involved in high percentages of accidents. Government must see that all taxi drivers undergo training to get necessary skills on how to drive and manage taxis in all circumstances.
Low-level investment in the infrastructure of our roads contributes to rising backlogs. Hundreds of billions of rands are needed on road maintenance. All studies, including those conducted by the department, clearly show that it is less costly to maintain roads than to rehabilitate them. I am afraid that the department does not have nearly enough money to serve all main roads in South Africa to do necessary maintenance. Therefore, the department must look into other alternatives to create more funds for the maintenance of roads. For example, they must launch a high priority road programme to identify parts of the national, provincial and local road networks with high maintenance. This would bring the backlog down within the short and medium term with a maximum timeline of five years.
Lastly, South Africa has less than one year before the 2010 Fifa World Cup to show the world that we can manage South Africa's transport to the benefit of all citizens in the country, as well as to the world. One excellent example is the upgrading of road infrastructure in Rustenburg, in the North West province, where four major Fifa protocol routes were handed over to the Local Organising Committee by the MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport for a contract with a value of more than R500 million. More than 480 job opportunities were created by the four road projects for rural- based communities, including women from villages around Rustenburg. May that be the department's challenge in the short term. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Ministers, MEC Ndosi, hon members, government officials, ladies and gentlemen.
Ngena naye! Phuma naye! Lesi isikhalo esivamile uma kugitshelwa noma kwehliwa esitimeleni. Ngaleso sikhathi kukhalwa ubumayemaye kubagibeli abagibelayo kanye nalabo abehlayo esitimeleni. Wo he! ngiyakuzwela wena mama otete ingane, ngesinye isandla ubambe enye ingane kanti-ke futhi ngesinye isandla uphethe umthwalo.
Ngoba uma umkhosi kangena naye, phuma naye usumenyezelwe enhliziyweni yakho wazi kamhlophe ukuthi kusenokwenzeka ngeshwa ulahlekelwe yingane oyibambe ngesandla noma kulahleke imithwalo. Yonke lengxubevange ebeyenzeka ezitimeleni yadalwa umbuso wobandlululo ngoMthetho Wokuhlaliswa Kwezinhlanga Ngokwahlukene ngokuthi abantu basuswe ezindaweni zabo zendabuko balahlwe le kude. Izindawo ababekwa kuzo bekuyizindawo zokulala kuphela "slaap dorpies".
Ukwanda kwabantu njengaseSoweto yikona okwadala ukuthi abagibeli bonke bathuthelekele ezitimeleni, njengento ezobathutha ukuya emisebenzini. Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe, singumphakathi waseMpumalanga sithanda ukubonga ngegalelo olenzile ngeprojekthi ebizwa ngokuthiwa yiMoloto Corridor. Siyathemba ukuthi lomzila wesitimela oxhumanisa iMpumalanga neTshwane uzoba nempumelelo emizameni yokunciphisa ukucinana kohide lwezimoto olugcina ngokudala izingozi ezinyantisa umzimba nsuku zonke emgwaqeni woMoloto. Nathi-ke siyizakhamuzi zaseMpumalanga sesizokwazi ukuhlabelela sithi:
Yaduma yaqeda impolompolo Ilindele ukusa ishosholoze. Igudle izintaba igudle namawa. Iqonde khona eTshwane Iqonde khona eGauteng (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Push him in! Push him out! This is the common chant when boarding or alighting from trains. At that time the people who are boarding or those who are alighting from those trains are crying for dear life. What a pity! I feel sorry for the mother who is carrying a baby on her back, whilst holding another child with one hand and carrying parcels with the other hand.
That's because you know in your heart that once the "push him in, push him out" chant begins, two unfortunate things might happen, and that is you can either be separated from the child you are holding with your one hand or lose parcels in your other hand. That chaos was created by the apartheid government through its separate development policies by removing people from their ancestral land and dumping them in remote places. The areas that were allocated to them were meant to be for overnight stay and they were known as "slaapdorpies".
The increasing number of people living in places like Soweto resulted in large numbers of people opting for trains as their mode of transport to work, and that resulted in trains becoming overcrowded. Hon Minister, as the community of Mpumalanga we would like to thank you for the contribution you have made with regard to the project known as the Moloto Corridor. We hope that this commuter rail line, which will connect Mpumalanga and Tshwane, will succeed in reducing traffic congestion that leads to fatal accidents every day on the Moloto road. We, as the community of Mpumalanga will be able to sing the following song:]
Yaduma yaqeda impolompolo Ilindele ukusa ishosholoze. Igudle izintaba igudle namawa. Iqonde khona eTshwane Iqonde khona eGauteng
The ANC, in the recent national and provincial elections, received a strong mandate to better the lives of all the people by working together with communities and all development partners. We can therefore not betray the will of our people, but instead have to restore their dignity and confidence in this ANC-led government.
The ANC's manifesto is very clear on the fact that we need to build an equitable, sustainable, safe and inclusive transport system. The reality is that our public transport system is fragmented, irrational and uneconomical. This results in it being unsustainable and unable to drive the local economic development programme for the purpose of creating jobs in order to eradicate poverty in our communities. Thus, our public transport system has to be significantly improved to meet challenges that our people are confronted with in our endeavours to fully integrate and transform their lives and ways of living.
Our transport system must be capable of becoming a labour-absorbing sector that will be a driving force on capacitating small businesses. So, the integrated transport system must be the main driving mechanism for the development of a mixed economy, where the state, private capital, co- operatives and other forms of social ownership complement each other in an integrated way to eliminate poverty and foster shared economical growth.
A developmental state should maintain its strategic goals in shaping key sectors of the economy like a national transport system. This means that the Department of Transport has a responsibility to roll out state-led infrastructure investment programmes. We need to have a comprehensive rural development strategy which builds potential for rural sustainable livelihoods, especially for disabled people and women as part of an overarching vision of rural development.
Thus, public participation in order to produce integrated transport plans at local level, as part of the broader integrated development plans, is highly recommended. Hon members, I am making a call to all the municipalities to establish, as required by law, transport authorities involving all the major role-players in this regard. The taxi recapitalisation programme must be reviewed if we consider that, as estimated, 64% of all commuters in our country rely on minibus taxis. Therefore, these taxis are the backbone of our public transport system, with small profit margins. Drivers are forced to speed, overload, work long hours and overwork their vehicles, thus causing this sector to have a very high accident rate.
It is one of the biggest infrastructure investment projects for the 2010 Fifa World Cup and articulates clearly the fact that there will be serious engagements with various stakeholders that are affected by the bus rapid transit, BRT, system and will include how all stakeholders benefit from this initiative.
Our transport system has a responsibility to facilitate transformation in cities, towns and rural areas in order to build cohesive sustainable and caring societies with closer access to work and social amenities, including sport and recreation facilities. We need to realise that rural areas have a right to roads; we have to ensure training and skills development that responds to the requirements of the economy to boost human resources capacity.
Lastly, we have to be tough on drunken driving and pay special attention to combating corruption and fraud in the procurement and tender processes ... njengoba ubaba uNdosi enza ... [... just the way Ndosi is doing it ...]
... in terms of the application of driving licences and theft of police case docket documents. The main goal of our government must be to ensure that foreign relations contribute to the creation of an environment conducive to sustainable economic growth and development. We must emphasise that a developmental state requires improvement of public services that will strengthen our democratic institutions.
It is important to reflect that the first National Household Travel Survey, in its findings, reported that 67,9% of South Africans do not have access to trains, 56% do not have access to buses, and people who don't have access to taxis are just a small percentage of 11,22%. So, there is a need for an intervention programme like the BRT system that will be accessible to poor communities, especially from the rural areas.
The main challenges in this area are that we need to find out about the behaviour of the taxi industry; interrogate to what extent transformation is taking place on both metro rail and buses; consider whether there is any transport strategy utilised to address the need of the poor in rural areas; enhance sustainable local economic development objectives of the developmental state that speaks to the ANC policies and conference resolutions; and identify loopholes and ensure co-operation among the three spheres of government on allocation of public transport in our communities.
Ake ngisho lokhu, kancane ngizophinda ngibuye. Sihlalo, ngivumele ngikhumbuze amambuka ukuthi kumazwe athuthukile afana noBritain kanye ne- Amerika kuneqembu elibusayo kanye namaqembu aphikisayo kodwa wonke lamaqembu awadluli kwamahlanu. Abantu baseMzanzi Afrika balwela inkululeko kodwa hhayi amaqembu-qembu. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Let me say this first, and then I will come back to the point. Chairperson, allow me to remind the traitors that in developed countries like Britain and America there is a ruling party and opposition parties do not exceed five parties. The people of South Africa fought for freedom and not for the formation of many parties.]
Are you free or are you dom? [Laughter.]
Ngibuye futhi. [Coming back to the point.]
There is an interesting relationship between types of settlements and the number of people who spend nothing on public transport, for example, nearly a third of metropolitan and urban households spend money on transport. In rural areas only 14% of households spend nothing. This indicates the dependency of rural populations on public transport in provinces like Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and Northern Cape.
The reason why there is a slow expenditure on public transport in the Western Cape and Gauteng is that household income in these provinces is much higher and use of public transport is lower. [Time expired.] I thank you. [Applause.]
Mudzulatshidulo a ?honifheaho, Vho Minisi?a vha ?honifheaho na Mufarisi wavho, vhahulisei vha ino Nn?u, vhashumeli vha muvhuso na vho thetshelesaho hanengei mahayani, ndi matsheloni. (Translation of Tshiven?a paragraph follows.)
[Ms L MABIJA: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and your Deputy, hon members of this House, government employees and those listening at home, good morning.]
I believe we are all aware that there is a war outside there. Instead of buses and taxis working together as part of integrated systems in our towns and cities, we have minibus taxi organisations fighting one another for passengers. This leads to minibus taxis competing with buses and trains on long-distance routes.
Musi hezwi zwithu zwi tshi itea, zwi dzhia na matshilo a vhanwe vha vhadzulapo vha fhano Afurika Tshipembe. [When these things happen, they take the lives of South African citizens.]
Therefore, there is a need for intervention in our transport system.
Ndo takala ndi tshi pfa Minisi?a Vho Sbu vha tshi ri ?an?avhudzela nga n?ila ine vhone sa murangaphan?a vha vhilaela ngayo uri zwithu zwi tshimbile zwavhu?i. Vha dovha hafhu vha ri sumbedzisa zwiimiswa zwo fhambanaho zwine zwa khou shumana na uri mafhungo haya a zwa vhuendi a tshimbile nga n?ila ine ya vhuedza vhadzulapo.
Zwino ndi ?o dadamala kha fhungo ?a Bus Rapid Transport System, ine nga kuvhonele kwanga ya vha yone i re ngonani ... (Translation of Tshiven?a paragraphs follows.)
[I was happy when I heard Minister Sbu giving us details of how he, as the leader, is worried that things should go smoothly. He further shows us various institutions which are involved in ensuring that issues of transport should benefit the citizens.
Now I shall deal with the issue of the bus rapid transport system, which in my view is the one that is appropriate ...]
... because this system is based on creating a positive climate for the formalisation of transportation of the people. Therefore, it will enhance positive conditions for economic empowerment for the poorest of the poor, both in urban and rural areas.
We need to specifically look at the fact that it will provide better services in order for public transport to gain respect for law, create decent working conditions for all and instil a sense of pride and fair representation in public transport. This will change the face of the public transport system. It will be appropriate to highlight that it will upgrade quality and performance levels of transport systems. In doing so, our transport system will be capable of becoming a labour-absorbing sector that leads to the development of sustainable local economic growth.
This will speak to the ANC policies that emphasise the main mandate of the department which is to ensure that it leads to a massive public investment programme for growth and employment that will accelerate and expand its investment in public infrastructure, including expanding improved networks in public transport.
This will create opportunities, whilst at the same time meeting the basic needs of our society. The state of the nation address confirms that the main principle of all government departments must be based on fighting poverty in order to build better lives for all.
So, we must recall that the fight against poverty remains the cornerstone of our government focus. As long as there are people who don't have access to transport, we need to work together in driving development programmes with various municipalities to speed up economic growth and transform the economy to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods. We need a transport system that will have the responsibility to facilitate transformation of our cities and rural areas in order to build caring communities with closer access to work and social amenities.
The ANC articulates clearly that public transport is the main mechanism or a major instrument benefiting broad sectors of our societies, especially workers, the youth, women and people with disabilities because it actively promotes skills development. That is why we need an integrated transport system that can use a bottom-up approach. Hopefully, it will be sustainable for development. It will be appropriate to give a full explanation as to why we don't see the taxi system as relevant in our societies these days. One can say taxi drivers are forced to speed, overload, work long hours and overwork their vehicles, resulting in high accident rates; whilst the bus rapid transport system is fast and capable of carrying loads of people, and at the same time it is also cheap for our people.
Therefore, it creates a user-friendly environment in our communities. This will enhance the co-ordination of transport projects in relation to the 2010 Soccer World Cup. On the other hand, it will develop practices and norms that will increase access to appropriate and quality public transport to meet the socioeconomic status of both rural and urban communities.
In conclusion, it must be reflected that many of the achievements in the past nine years, where we commenced building 1,4 million houses that are in the same dormitory townships, have compounded our transport challenges. There is a need to adhere to a philosophy that is based on key principles of equity in order to promote broader social responsibility, and a need to serve the interests of the majority of passengers rather than those of private vehicles.
In fact, there is a need to politicise the terrain of transport such that the needs of the majority of users, notably poor and marginalised South Africans, are prioritised. The significance of improving the passenger and transport system as a contributor to economic competitiveness needs to be emphasised. Public transport, in particular, is grossly underresourced in relation to other sectors and in terms of national output and budgetary revenue streams.
Nga enea maipfi ma?uku ndi na fulufhelo ?ihulu ?a uri muhulisei Vho Sbu vha khou ?o shumisa mugaganyagwama wavho nga n?ila ine ra sala ri tshi khou zwi vhona zwauri khaedu dzo?he dzine ra vha nadzo dzi a fhungudzea, u itela uri ro?he ri kone u wana vhutshilo ha khwi?e. Zwine nda fulufhela khazwo ndi zwauri ri ro?he ri ?o ita zwauri hu vhonale tshanduko, zwi vhonale zwauri muvhuso wo rangiwaho phan?a nga ANC u na bono na mbonelaphan?a. Ndi a livhuwa. [U vhanda zwan?a.] (Translation of Tshivenda paragraph follows.)
[With these few words I have great hope that hon Sbu is going to spend his budget in a way that will make us see all the challenges we have are lessened, so that all of us can have a better life. What I believe in is that, together, we will bring about developments, so that it can be seen that the ANC-led government has vision and foresight. I thank you. [Applause.]]
Chairperson, hon Minister Manzankosi and Deputy Minister, hon MEC, ...
Izinhlelo zethu zezezokuthutha kuleli lizwe ziphucuzeke kakhulu, njengoba sazi ukuthi ezokuthutha kuleli lizwe yizona zinhlelo ezikwazi ukuxhumanisa bonke abantu basemakhaya nabasemadolobheni ukuze izinto zakhona zikwazi ukuhamba kahle.
Ngithi-ke, Manzankosi nginokukwethemba ukuthi kukhona ongakwenza kulolu hlelo lwakithi ngoba kulesiya sifundazwe sobukhosi baKwaZulu-Natali kuningi owakwenza wathukisa izindawo zethu zasemakhaya. Sayeka ukwemuka nomfula uma sihamba siwela imifula njengaseSikhwebezi nje siya kwezinye izindawo. Sasingakwazi ukuwela kahle, sasiwela amanzi ashaya lapha bese sihamba siya esikoleni iSilanda.
Ngithi-ke, Manzankosi ngiyakwethemba njengendoda eqhamuka kulesiya sifundazwe ukuthi uzowenza lo msebenzi. Ngiyethemba futhi ukuthi ngeke usiphoxe ngesikhathi Sendebe Yomhlaba. Uyobe usukulungisile lokhu okuzintwala okuhluphayo laphaya ezitimeleni njengoba umnawami kade esho ukuthi uthola omama bethwele kakhulu, kuminyene, bebelethe nezingane, behla nakabuhlungu ezitimeleni.
Bese ngithi-ke ngizocela ukuthi ubambisane kakhulu noNdosi ezimpini lezi zamagovu lawa akithi angoSomatekisi ngoba isibhamu sisekhona. Ngoba uma uhamba ngetekisi uvele wazi kahle ukuthi awuphephile. Ngizocela impela ukuthi nibambisane njengamadoda aleli lizwe kanye nezakhamizi njengoba oyihlomkhulu bayilwela le nkululeko, nikwazi ukuthi izigebengu lezi niziqoqe nizibeke endaweni yazo.
Ngithi-ke isabelomali somnyango wakho, njengoba ufika nje, ngabe ngenza obukhulu ubuxhwe uma ngingagxeka. Uyafika, ufake izicathulo ezintsha. Lezi zicathulo ezintsha-ke ngicela ukuthi uzifake Manzankosi, usebenze ngokwethembeka kuleli lizwe lenkosi, uthasisele kulokhu owawukwenza le ekhaya, uphinde ukwenze nalapha. Ngithi-ke isabelomali soMnyango wakho ngiyaseseka egameni leqembu leNkatha Yenkululeko Yesizwe. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Our transport programmes in this country are well developed. We all know that transport programmes make it easy for people in the rural and urban areas to meet so that everything can run smoothly.
Manzankosi, I trust that you can do a lot in this programme because in our province, KwaZulu-Natal, you did a lot in developing places in rural areas. We no longer get washed away whilst crossing rivers, for example, the Sikhwebezi River, in order to get to other places. It was not easy to cross; the water would reach up to here when we were going to school in Silanda.
Manzankosi, I trust that you will execute this task as a man from that province. I also hope that you will not disappoint us during the Soccer World Cup; and that by that time you would have taken care of those people who are causing problems on the trains, such as those my colleague mentioned. Amongst other things is that you find women with lots of parcels and children on their backs in overcrowded trains, and they also find it difficult to disembark from the train.
I urge you to work together with Cele in fighting crime in the taxi industry because they still have guns. When you travel in a taxi you know that you are not safe. I urge you to work together as men and citizens of this country because your forefathers fought for this freedom, and you must be able to put these criminals where they belong.
With regard to the budget allocation of your department, it would be really unfair of me to make slanderous remarks because you are still new in your position. Manzankosi, I urge you to work with integrity in your new position; do more here than what you did back home. I support your department's budget allocation on behalf of the Inkatha Freedom Party. [Applause.]] Mr B H CELE (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, colleagues, friends, foes and comrades, the budget is speaking to us regarding a couple of aspects. Hon Minister, talking to you ...
... kufana nokuthela amanzi emhlane wedada ... [... is a waste of time ...]
... because you understand these things very well, but let us start with the 2010 and infrastructure budget. Its shortcoming is that it has concentrated on host cities and developing cities only, and has completely forgotten the rural areas. That is the problem about the billions of 2010. I hope that, at a certain given point, we will pick that one up, because it is very serious.
Where I come from - you know very well where - we have just completed a process of trying to find out what we can do in the rural areas which are short of 474 pedestrian and vehicle bridges. We are building a pedestrian bridge at a cost of R6 million per bridge. If we build 10 a year, it will take us 43 years to build enough bridges for everybody in that province to cross a river when it is raining.
Whilst speaking about the province, I am sure that several provinces like Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Eastern Cape share the same problems as KwaZulu- Natal where people still postpone funerals and weddings because they cannot cross the river on the day of the function. They shout out messages, saying: Ningabe niseza, asisashadi sizoshada ngesonto elizayo. [Do not come, we are no longer getting married; we will get married next week.] People cannot cross the river to reach the place where the wedding is taking place on that particular day.
So, these are the things we need to understand as we enjoy the 2010 Fifa World Cup; seeing Gautrain and the bus rapid transit, BRT, system and everything. Life in rural areas for some reason has not been taken up to speed, like the 2010 furore. So, we need to understand that. Having said that, we appreciate the infrastructure that is there, but as I am trying to make everybody understand, it should not just be for the urban South Africa and the developed areas only, but the rural South Africa should also benefit from the 2010 infrastructure. We are in danger of completely forgetting the rural areas where we come from.
We did a check and would like to agree with you on the point of road safety. I have been accused of exaggerating when it comes to road safety, hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister. I would love to see road safety picked up at the same level as HIV/Aids. Sometimes they feel that I am exaggerating I am not. Imagine that you lose 15 000 people a year, and that those people you are losing are between the ages of 18 and 35 or 40. Imagine those people have just finished school and acquired degrees, be it medical degrees, chartered accountants, etc. Those are the kinds of people who die on the roads. They die on the roads because they can afford to buy speedy cars and they die on the roads - 15 000 of them - at an expense of R56 billion a year, money that no one has budgeted for. Going to the ICU, you are moving from being healthy straight to the ICU, which no one has budgeted for. Therefore, we need to pick up on road safety seriously.
Actually, we should move away from the mentality of thinking that road offences are ordinary and normal road offences. There must be some kind of an understanding that you are committing a crime, because most of these accidents are criminal offences rather than traffic offences. You cannot just go into a bar ...
... unkunke utshwala, unkunke utshwala, unkunke utshwala bugcwale isisu ... [... and gulp liquor, and gulp more liquor, until you cannot take anymore ...]
... and when you are really drunk and nasty, you get into a car and drive. And when you kill people everybody thinks that ...
... wenze ingozi.[... it was an accident.]
There is no accident about that. There is no culpable homicide. That is murder. So, we must begin to understand and treat those things with some kind of understanding. The countries that we look up to, countries like Australia, have nothing like road offences. They call it crime. If you drive at 210km per hour where you are supposed to be driving at 100km per hour and you kill people, they charge you for culpable homicide ... "ubulele ngengozi," [You committed culpable homicide.] When you were flying on the road ... Roads are not for flying; they are for driving and there are people who are flying on the roads and we are still arguing that it was an accident. It cannot be an accident; it is murder.
So, we need to shift our understanding of road accidents. They kill our people, they kill young people and therefore our economy, because the people killed either owned these cars and were active in the economy or were in the buses or taxis going to work or they were school kids. They are therefore killing the future and not only the present.
Hon Minister and Deputy Minister, there is a programme that we have taken that is meant for visiting the victims of road accidents. You need to go and see what happens when people have died on the roads. Some kids have been going to the best schools, and when they are supposed to go back to township schools for the first time, because their whole lives their parents have been driving them to school, they find out for the first time where the taxi rank is.
Usizi. [It's sad.]
The pain that engulfs these families when people have died on the roads is amazing. So, it is important that road safety is really taken care of and that we pick up on it in the very serious way it deserves and that we are very serious about it.
Lastly, Minister, I know job creation is close to your heart and I hope that you will push it very hard. There are programmes like Zibambele that we need to carry through. When you left the province you had targeted to create these 40 000 Zibambele jobs for the period 2009-10 and I am sure that you will be happy when I tell you that we have already created 39 997, which is only three short to complete 40 000 before the end of period 2009- 10.
There are two important things about these Zibambele jobs. Firstly, they are permanent; and secondly, they help the most unemployable people, people whom, even if the country had an upswing economically, would never be able to get their CVs, because they are completely illiterate. So, even if you create more jobs, that won't help them. Therefore, it is important that these jobs are created for these people. But more than that Minister, the report is that they have created clubs and managed to get something out of nothing. These people work three days a week and get about R450 to R490 now. They have saved R12 million amongst themselves with their saving clubs - R12 million.
What we are trying to do at the moment is that they are saving in different places and pooling their money together; soon they are going to be creating what we call Thenga kanye-kanye. This is when they are going to buy their groceries in bulk and we have calculated that if they buy groceries together, where they would normally pay R270 per package, they would only pay R200 with this scheme. And at the same time they will work with one mode of transport that will deliver rather than paying money to go to town to buy, but these things will be delivered. I think we can all sit down and share these ideas together and spread them nationally.
And the last one is Siyazenzela. Through the Extended Public Works Programme, EPWP, we have formed joint ventures with municipalities where, instead of giving tenders for garbage collection, the individual household is contracted to collect garbage and weigh it and then get food of the same weight as the garbage they have collected. So, we have four municipalities working on that and we are prepared to sit down and share these ideas together and spread them through the whole country so that we make sure that the jobs that the President has spoken about are achieved. That is the contribution that KwaZulu-Natal is making. We support this Budget Vote and we hope that all these runs will walk a longer distance. Thank you very much, Chairperson. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon MECs, hon members and officials, let us acknowledge the road that we have travelled as the Department of Transport over the years to build an efficient, accessible, cost-effective and trouble-free transport system. An efficient transport system is the backbone of a prosperous economy.
Minister, your department has been able to bring down the death rate on our roads. It has been able to boost the economy through transporting goods from one destination to the other. Your budget is a movement through which greater transparency and participation in government budgetary decision- making can be attained. Our emphasis on this budget is to accelerate economic growth and development; improve the effectiveness of government intervention; improve the lives of those who have been disadvantaged; intensify the South-South economic relations; ensure that there is implementation of energy saving measures; and the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.
The ANC-led government believes that this sector has the potential to create sustainable jobs and to grow the economy faster, targeting the 2010 World Cup and beyond. That is why it is crucial that the bus rapid transit, BRT, system should be brought to finality as a matter of urgency. The greatest challenge confronting us is that we do not have a well co- ordinated transport system. The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. The taxi industry does not talk to the bus industry and vice versa; it is similar in the freight, flight and rail industries.
The taxi industry is an industry that can improve our economy tremendously. Taxi owners must realise that there is life after the taxi industry. There should be visionaries who should venture into other businesses, like the bus, car manufacturing, petrol, spares and even the manufacturing industries. They could create thousands of jobs to improve the lives of our people.
The sooner we put the house in order, the better for the transport industry. For the industry to thrive, they must be made aware that transport is not their exclusive monopoly, but that they are a part of the industry just like other stakeholders. This reminds me of the words of a former Lesedi radio announcer, Thuso Motaung, who said, "Taxi owners, instead of counting rands and cents, are busy counting dead bodies."
The second challenge is to create an enabling environment for rural people and black farmers to do business without hindrance. These people should be assisted and supported to create a transport system that is reliable, cost- effective and efficient. Their products should easily reach urban markets. We should inculcate a sense of pride for them to do business in rural areas. They should not feel neglected. They are entitled to the same rights and privileges that are enjoyed by people living in urban areas.
In conclusion, we should never again allow a project like the Gautrain, because the beneficiaries of that project are well-to-do people. We carry the mandate of the majority of our people. They are the ones who should be beneficiaries. Mr Minister, we support your Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, Minister Ndebele, MEC Cele, hon members, Director-General of Transport and your colleagues from the department, friends and colleagues, a few weeks ago I had the privilege of addressing the select committee when we tabled the Department of Transport's strategic plan.
I would like to use today's input to just dwell on some of the issues that I raised in that particular meeting. I know from my 10 years in Parliament - Chairperson, I know that you're one of the champions of this - that the purpose and strategic role of the NCOP is not often appreciated, particularly by colleagues over in the National Assembly. Maybe, sometimes also here in the NCOP as well, there's a sense of "Who are we?" And I think the NCOP sometimes gets treated as a poor relative.
What I really want to say today is that, certainly from a transport perspective, the role and importance of the National Council of Provinces is absolutely crucial. If you are going to deliver infrastructure and public transport - a range of things - effectively, then your role is really critical. I really wanted to make that point.
When it comes to road infrastructure, for instance, the hon Groenewald correctly said that we've got many challenges in terms of maintenance, upgrading and so on. Failure to do that sets us further back. He is absolutely right.
He then said that the national Department of Transport needs to get more qualified civil engineers. That may be the case, but a lot of maintenance and infrastructure development problems lie with provinces and local government. This is not necessarily their fault, but we need an intelligent and strategic discussion about how we allocate resources to infrastructure, bridges and so forth. How do we ensure that those resources are then spent on infrastructure?
We think that at a national level, the SA National Roads Agency Ltd, Sanral, is by and large doing quite well in terms of the maintenance and development of road infrastructure, the N-routes. However, the great majority of kilometres of routes are actually with other spheres of government, and there are many challenges.
We think that you have a strategic role to play, one, in terms of oversight, but also, two, in contributing to the policy debate as to how we most effectively allocate resources to make sure that we are doing this.
This also applies to public transport. By the way, hon Cele, in the medium- term budgets for the years 2011-12 the public transport infrastructure grant envisages some R5,1 billion for infrastructure, and government's perspective is that we need then to shift, in that year, to a major focus on rural transport infrastructure.
We've used the 2010 hosting to increase our transport budget quite successfully. Cabinet has let us use 2010 to make sure that we have a legacy of public transport, for the first time. This is because we don't have decent public transport at all in South Africa. We've done quite well in terms of getting a budget, but, of course, that budget, as the hon Cele has correctly said, has tended to go to cities. I understand his impatience, but at the same time we do understand that it's not just in cities that there are problems of public transport, as there are also huge problems in rural areas. Certainly, it is our intention, particularly from 2011-12, to shift the emphasis of infrastructure transport spending to rural areas.
As we look back on the past 15 years of democracy, we can see that we've done many good things together. Led by the ANC government, all of us as South Africans have done many good things in transforming our country. However, there are areas where we seem to have reproduced poverty and inequality, which is by and large racialised inequality.
One of the problems has to do with this spatial arrangement, the spatial legacy of South Africa. What happened before the apartheid period is that the black majority was forced into marginalisation, either into dormitory Bantustans and reserves, or into peripheral townships on the edges of our cities.
That means, from a public transport perspective, moving people effectively and efficiently was hugely complicated. Even today, we have this legacy where public transport is not public transport that is being used all day, throughout the day, and so on. It's one way in the mornings and one way in the evenings, to dump people back in their dormitory townships. No resources, no facilities and so on. This poses huge challenges for all of our cities and towns as to how we have sustainable public transport that serves people and begins to change things.
What we realise is that we can't do it alone, as the Department of Transport; we need to work closely with our municipalities and their integrated transport plans and development plans. We need to work very closely with our provinces and the Human Settlements department, which is no longer just the Department of Housing, because we're not just thinking of housing as rows of RDP houses located in the same distant localities. Let's start to think about human settlements, where there are resources, facilities, such as sporting facilities, jobs, and so forth, which are not far away from where people have historically been dumped.
We need to also work very closely with the Planning Commission in the Presidency to make sure that we start to change the way in which space is allocated in South Africa, so that we don't continue just to reproduce racialised inequality, which we have done over the past 15 years. When apartheid ended, the market took over. So, when we built RDP houses, we built one million in five years - which is an amazing achievement - and three million now, after 15 years. In order to do that massive expansion of houses within the space of 15 years, and within the budget, we locate them in the same low-cost areas in terms of property.
Again, the market itself has reproduced these inequalities of space at a huge cost to poor people in terms of travel and in terms of time to get anywhere in order to access their basic rights. So, we've got to change that. Transport itself can also be a catalyst for changing this.
Many speakers have already mentioned the fact that we need to have integrated public transport systems, including, but not just, Bus Rapid Transit systems, BRTs. Instead of these sterile freeways congested with cars, we need decent routes where businesses, mixed-income housing, all kinds of facilities and so on, are all along the routes. The routes themselves become democratic spaces where rich and poor, black and white, old and young use the public transport and contribute to a new sense of nation-building and solidarity.
So, public transport is very important and, therefore, hon Cele, I hope you'll forgive us for spending a bit of money in the cities and towns where there are big problems of congestion, in order to begin to democratise the space, time and allocation of resources in order to transform people's ordinary lives.
What have been the problems? One of the problems, as we look back, has been that many of the transport responsibilities have been fragmented into different spheres of government. For instance, planning, in terms of the old National Land Transport Transition Act, was primarily a municipal function, as it should be. Integrated development plans also integrate transport plans, and the two obviously needed to be linked.
However, when it comes to subsidies, for instance, the bus subsidies have been a provincial function. The Metrorail subsidy function has been a national function - okay. The regulatory functions, for instance in terms of operating licences, have tended to be a provincial function.
This has been the case not necessarily because people were competing for turf - although sometimes they were - between different spheres of government. It has been a recipe for a lack of co-ordination: planning in one place; regulation in another; and subsidies in another place, and therefore the things not adding up together.
Therefore the NCOP, towards the end of last year - obviously the NCOP of the previous Parliament - passed the new National Land Transport Act. This Act said: Let us, as quickly as possible, locate regulation, licensing, subsidies, where possible, and planning in one place so that you don't have things pulling in different directions. In particular it said: Let us begin with the 2010 host cities. Let us try and locate all of those things like the operating licensing, the subsidies, the infrastructure spend and the planning with the host cities and any other municipalities that are capable - obviously not all would be capable all at once of doing these things.
We need to move towards the implementation of that National Land Transport Act, which I think will go a long way. We can't do that unless our colleagues in the NCOP also play a very active role in oversight over the provincial executives and over the towns and cities in their areas. So, we really call upon you to be activists in this process.
The same applies - I see my time is running out - to bus subsidies. My colleagues will remember that at the beginning of this year, we ran out of bus subsidies and there was a huge crisis. This year, we estimate that again we are going to have a similar problem. This year things, from a provincial point of view, have become more complicated because now the subsidy doesn't go via the national department to provinces; it goes directly to provinces, in terms of the Division of Revenue Act. Therefore, we call on provinces and yourselves in the NCOP to be very vigilant about how we are going to use the bus subsidy allocation. From the national department, we are going to campaign with Treasury to make sure that there is an improved allocation for bus subsidies in provinces.
At the same time, unless provinces make a good case for how they are going to be spending that subsidy, it's going to be very difficult for us. So, in short, colleagues, thank you for the inputs that I've heard so far. My main message is: We need an activist, vigilant, but co-operative NCOP, if we are to achieve a major turnaround - as I'm sure we will - in terms of public transport and transport in South Africa. Thank you. [Applause.]
Chair, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, hon MEC, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It should be clear to this House that there is something innately wrong with the transport policy. The policy is premised on the belief that oil supplies are constant, that demand is level and that climate change is not playing a factor. No mention is made anywhere of peak oil. The department is silent on single-passenger cars causing a gridlock on our roads leading in and out of the cities. The fact that our mode of transport has the biggest impact on our environment seems to be inconsequential.
Who can argue the fact that motorised vehicles are the largest emitters of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and therefore the largest contributors of the process of climate change? It is estimated that 160 000 people are dying of climate change each year. Models developed by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change show that climate change will threaten health, particularly in the low-income population and predominantly in tropical and subtropical countries. This means we are first in the line of fire. Heat-related deaths and illnesses, epidemics of infectious diseases after storms and floods and the displacement of population have been forecast. Overall crop yields are predicted to decrease as temperatures rise, and food prices will rise rapidly.
That is just one part of the problem. Fuel prices are rising again. Last year, it rose to R10,00 a litre. Where will fuel prices be in two or three years from now? The increasing demand and the falling supplies, especially of light crude oil, will intensify the pressure on prices. But then what about the pressure on our foreign exchange? What if everybody chose to travel to work in a single car? An individual might afford the cost of fuel, but what about the economy?
Our people have to travel long distances everyday. This has taken a toll on their health, as well as on their pockets. It is one thing when taxi drivers protest. It will be a different thing if the daily commuters begin to protest. That time is very close. If we don't have any answers, we will have big problems. The season of protests is here. The bus rapid transit system, BRT, still has to get off the ground. The park-and ride system is only being tested on a small scale at this moment. At the rate which our government has been going, it will be overtaken by circumstances beyond our control.
I would like to ask the Minister to come back to this House with new, revised and forward-looking plans that will allow transport to be sustainable and affordable far into the future. Peak oil is here; climate change is here; escalation in the price of fuel is here and pressure on our foreign exchange is here. None of these will be reversed any time soon, and some will never be reversed, ever.
Chair, on a point of order: we can't hear, and the member is busy speaking. Are you going to allow him one minute or two more minutes to ... [Interjections.] No, we can't hear the member speak. That is the issue. [Interjections.] No, it's not. It started now.
The Chief Whip is attending to that, hon member.
Yes, please.
Cope believes that we cannot afford to be tied into a transport technology that is of fading utility. Cope also believes that our policies must be anticipating the future and not perpetuating the past. What we have in front of us are policies that will plunge us into an abyss. We need a smarter plan, and we need it now. I thank you.
Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, I thank you for the opportunity to speak and represent my province here. It is so, Deputy Minister, that nothing shapes our cities more profoundly than public transport. Safe, affordable and accessible public transport carries millions to work every day. It takes children safely to school; it enables us to visit our friends; and it takes us to our places of work every day. Transport, in its widest form, carries the fruits of our labours to their market destinations so that we may all prosper.
Public transport offers choice and opportunity. It drives the economy; it shrinks the cities; it softens the scars of apartheid; and it is an inescapable component of our personal freedom and opportunity. The key to a successful public transport system is partnerships. We will master skills of working effectively with a multitude of national departments, municipalities and other provinces to deliver a platform for an effective and efficient public transport system. Partnership, at every level, will be our driving imperative, and it will include the private sector, trade unions, transport operators, NGOs and the people of the province.
The province and the City of Cape Town will bury old differences, eliminate duplication and work together in a host of endeavours that will transform public transport. Within the next year, for example, responsibilities for public transport will, in terms of the National Land Transport Act, increasingly switch from the province to the city and other municipalities capable of managing this function. The province will ensure that it is able to smoothly transfer public transport functions in excellent working order and then lend support to the new transport authorities.
In the quest for public transport for all, the DA will deliver in this province, within five years, the platform of an integrated public transport system whose operating elements are increasingly harmonised, regulated, formalised and complementary rather than competitive. Our objective is to provide excellent public transport, reduce congestion on our roads and in our ports, maintain and improve all our roads, significantly improve road safety, cater for passengers with special needs and ease the movement of freight so that all of these objectives, working together, ensure economic growth and provide meaningful opportunities, choice and a better life for all the people. The characteristics of public transport will be affordability, accessibility, reliability, safety and sustainability.
The minibus-taxi industry is, despite its imperfections, a dazzling example of what can be achieved by previously disadvantaged entrepreneurs without black economic empowerment, BEE, handouts or subsidies in the face of a myriad of difficulties. The DA is totally committed to preserving the wellbeing of the industry and all its stakeholders. We will continue to ensure that no fundamental changes are introduced without negotiation and consensus, and that such changes are always beneficial to the owners and operators. We will guarantee mobility through the taxi and bus lanes, improve the efficiency and efficacy of the regulating authorities and seek, with the industry, for solutions to their most pressing problems. In return, we expect the industry's fullest co-operation in our safety and regulatory campaigns, as well as a significant improvement in service to their customers.
With regard to the bus rapid transit, BRT, system, the province will collaborate seamlessly with the City of Cape Town to ensure that the first three BRT systems are fully operational for 2010. The BRT system will revolutionise public transport in the Peninsula commuter belt, which includes the city, Swartland, Drakenstein and Stellenbosch. The first routes will serve as a working laboratory to point the way forward. Our Minister, Robin Carlisle, stands shoulder to shoulder with both our President and our Premier in his commitment to BRT.
For the 2010 event, the best will be in the west. The City of Cape Town is the host city contracted to Fifa. As such, it has the greatest responsibility for the success of this seminal event, including public transport. The city's Mike Marsden will champion the entire project, including the important legacy aspects. In the spirit of co-operation and real co-ordination, all provincial staff working on 2010 will report directly to Mr Marsden. The province is already working in partnership with the city, and it has already transferred a number of consultants to the city. We are confident that 2010 will exceed expectations.
When it comes to roads infrastructure, the physical condition of the provincial road network, particularly our gravel roads, is a matter of concern. Roads are usually designed for a normal lifespan of 25 years. However, about 75% of our roads are already older than this. This has severe implications on road safety and the sustainability of our roads. The road maintenance backlog is currently in excess of R1 billion. On the other hand, the road maintenance budget reflects a declining trend over the medium-term. Additional maintenance funds supplied to us by Treasury will run out over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. The average allocation over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework is less than half of what the department needs to eradicate the current backlog. The disparity between the budget for road maintenance and the backlog reveals that the backlog will increase exponentially unless current budgetary allocations for road infrastructure are reviewed. This situation is exacerbated by the shortage of engineers and technical skills.
The department's road infrastructure directorate currently has a 40% vacancy rate. Together with the limited funding for road infrastructure, this poses serious challenges to the capacity of the department to maintain our roads according to required standards. The budgetary limitations are reflected in the budget allocations for road infrastructure, public freight and transport. For example, the road infrastructure has been allocated R558 million, which is still far from what is actually needed to eradicate existing backlogs. A large portion of this is dedicated to the 2010 legacy projects on the N1 and the N2, all of which will be completed timeously. The public freight and transport category has been allocated R96 million, amounting to approximately R73 million less than in the previous year. The reduction is largely occasioned by Treasury withholding funds in an area where there was very heavy spending previously on consultants ... I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
House Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon MEC, hon members of this august House, as God was with Joshua when he led the chosen people to the promised land, he is also with us now as the ANC- led government in our resolve to better the lives of people and in our commitment to the five key priorities. These key priorities resulted in the election mandate that our people gave us when we said "Together we can do more."
The ANC-led government operates very strictly along the lines of effective and efficient accountability from everyone entrusted with public funds. While the ANC government considers the public transport sector to be the heartbeat of our economy as it contributes tremendously to the economic growth of the country, this financial year, this department has been allocated R23,7 billion, which is 5,5% of the national Budget.
Although the amount is reduced by 3,10% in comparison to the 2008-09 allocation, it is hoped that it will meet successfully and complete the following transport strategic objectives, namely to, firstly, effectively manage national innovative research and provide economic advice in respect of all modes of transport; secondly, create an enabling regulatory environment for roads, aviation and maritime transport; thirdly, manage accident and incident investigation in all modes of transport; fourthly, manage and facilitate integrated planning and intersphere co-ordination for transport infrastructure and operations; fifthly, manage the implementation of the transport logistics strategy and the development of freight movement corridors; sixthly, develop integrated, accessible and affordable quality public transport networks that meet the needs of both rural and urban passengers, hence the Moloto Corridor; and finally, develop appropriate mandates and monitoring mechanisms for public entities.
Chair, our election manifesto, from which our mandate is derived, directs that an effective public transport system be put in place in order to address the legacy of apartheid planning, which led to our people travelling long distances to places of work and spending a large share of time and income on transport. This reminds me and most of us here of who we are and where we come from, and which mode of transport we used to have access to.
Besigibela tinkalishi temambongolo kungako lamuhla kufanele sibone kwekutsi bantfu bakitsi batfola kwekuhamba lokuphephile.[We used to ride in donkey carts, and that is why today we must see to it that our people get a safe transport system.]
Most of the unemployed cannot even afford to pay for transport to search for jobs. As South Africa moves towards the 2010 World Cup, our government, through this department, must continue to roll out a public transport strategy, starting with the host cities. This would address the needs of the working people. In essence, this budget is expected to do exactly that.
It is pleasing to note the decrease in the allocation for consultancy and professional services in this financial year. One should take into consideration the fact that in the previous financial year, R90,2 million was allocated and spent, while this year only R49,8 million is budgeted for. We hope that a time is going to come when our government, and this department in particular, will stop making use of consultants, who charge exorbitant amounts for a service that can easily be rendered by our public servants.
In line with the ANC's key priorities, especially that of achieving an equitable, sustainable and inclusive growthpath that brings about decent work and sustainable livelihoods, education, health, safe and secure communities and rural development, the largest segment of the allocation - an amount of R8,8 billion - went to the integrated infrastructure and network development subprogrammes. This caters for the co-ordination of the needs and requirements of the 2010 Fifa World Cup under the bus Rapid transit system.
We must note that the 2010 Fifa World Cup activities serve as catalysts for transport transformation. In conclusion, it is now ideal for us to emulate Joshua, when God told him to get rid of all the obstacles. We are getting rid of the delaying tactics in relation to the transformation and delivery processes of this government of the people. The ANC supports this Budget Vote. [Applause.]
Chairperson, I would like to thank the Deputy Minister, Comrade Jeremy, MEC for Transport, Ndosi, colleagues from all the provinces, the director-general and all the speakers present for their contribution and for what they have added to the debate here today. Your contributions are very valuable to us as we go forward.
As Comrade Jeremy Cronin has said, we are going to have constant engagements on matters of transport because transport is one area where we really want to move in a very co-ordinated fashion. As we engage the taxi industry, the bus industry, rail, and the commuter organisations, so too Members of Parliament and members of the NCOP must themselves be engaged in similar interactions with their communities, so that all of us are really on the same wavelength.
Provincial experiences need to be fed back to the national department and the experiences that we pick up as we interact with the communities need to be shared with everyone so that, when we move, all of us are fully conversant with all the issues because we have shared knowledge. It's quite important for us to share knowledge because knowledge empowers all of us. Knowledge would thus not have come from one side; it would have come from our collective experience.
I would like to comment on a few issues. Allow me to start with the issue of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act. It has become quite an urgent matter, because this Parliament and the NCOP passed that legislation and you cannot have legislation that was passed and is then parked or just shelved. The experimentation that we had agreed on way back, I think, in 1998, was to start with Johannesburg and Tshwane, and thereafter roll-out had to occur. One cannot experiment for 10 to 12 years and thereafter have legislation that is actually not being implemented.
What is also spurring us on is the big story that broke yesterday about the experiment that Johannesburg has been going through where, because of administrative hiccups, we had to refund some R32 million to people who were not properly billed, and so forth. We can't have a system that works that way.
The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, Aarto, and the demerit system are actually quite important for us and we want to make the best of it. There must be an area in South Africa where abiding by the law is second nature to its citizens. This should then cascade to other areas. I am sure that my colleague Ndosi will know that people who abide by the law in terms of one aspect tend to abide by the law in terms of other aspects as well. But, once you start breaking the law in one aspect, and you get away with doing so, then breaking the law could become second nature.
The demerit system of Aarto is actually meant to ensure that the present carnage on our roads is dealt with. Like HIV and Aids and other medical problems, our transport problems are scientific problems, so we can actually find a cure. But the carnage on our road can't be put on exactly the same level as a scientific problem. For example, the UK has more cars than us, but experiences far fewer crashes. A number of other countries, with the United States, Germany and Australia being prime examples, have far more cars with far fewer crashes. In South Africa we have between six and seven million cars. Anyway, we have a population of 48 million, in a country that has very wide roads crossing open countryside; people who drive in much more congested circumstances drive with a greater awareness of safety.
Therefore we can do something about this problem. Part of our strategy is to create the understanding that the driving licence a driver might have one day is not something he might possess the next day. That understanding is actually the key. Via the demerit system we want to ensure that the driving licence becomes a document that a person knows can be lost through their own actions. Some people have been complaining about traffic officers hiding under and behind bushes alongside our freeways. We will have to look into that.
Maybe the following will happen: Maybe our traffic officers are actually going to be giving you a demerit and visiting you at home and saying that they have been following you. You have got your licence cancelled. Can you just tell us how you got home? How did you get home today, because your licence is cancelled and your car was being driven by one person? We were following you. How is it that you are driving when your driving licence is cancelled?
This will teach the driving public that what follows on the cancellation of a driving licence might very well be imprisonment, if they drive in defiance of a cancelled or suspended licence.
The other area that we need to look at quite seriously - and MEC Cele spoke about this - is the visitation of victims. Part of what you discover when you visit those victims is that most of them don't even know anything about the Road Accident Fund. Now, as you leave here and fill up your car, 64 cents per litre of the cost of that fuel goes to the Road Accident Fund. It is supposed to be a very standard insurance. It is an institutionalised insurance that is supposed to ensure that a person injured on our roads does get paid compensation. We cannot have a situation where, on the one extreme, the Road Accident Fund has just paid R500 million to a Swiss national, while on the other, people cannot get paid R50 000 or even R25 000. They actually get nothing. There is something seriously at fault with that. Of the R11 billion that was budgeted for the current year, R2,5 billion went to the lawyers specifically, and R900 million went to the doctors that actually attended to the people who were injured on the roads. So, of the whole R11 billion, only R900 million was actually paid out to settle doctors' bills. There is something that we need to correct about this.
In conclusion, the issue of 2010 is really an opportunity to thank the members for their contribution and to say that public transport must indeed be one of the key legacies of 2010. That legacy cannot just be urban; it must cover the whole country. It is quite an important thing to do. We want to take the opportunity to thank the portfolio committee and the study groups. It is clear that we need to continue working the way we have, because there is so much to be done in this Department of Transport. We want to assure you that, as we roll it out for 2010, the key feature of our preparations will be the public participation of as many of ourselves as is possible. The department wants to ensure that.
One of the key aspects that we will discuss between ourselves and the provinces is ensuring that every school and every clinic is reachable by road. By 2009-10 there should be no longer a school or a clinic that can't be reached because the road doesn't reach there. So the construction of rural roads is one of the main tasks of making this country a developed country. Thank you very much for the participation. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Business suspended at 10:44 and resumed at 14:02.
Afternoon Sitting