Date: 20/05/2003
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Ndebele: KwaZulu-Natal Annual Transport Summit
ADDRESS TO THE KWAZULU-NATAL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT'S 2003 ANNUAL SUMMIT BY THE KWAZULU-NATAL MEC FOR TRANSPORT, S'BU NDEBELE, 20 May 2003
Ministers
AmaKhosi
Members of National and Provincial Parliament
Mayors and Councillors
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Heads of Department (National and Provincial)
Members of the Taxi Associations
Members of the Rural Road Transport Forums
Members of the Community Road Safety Councils
Members of the Vukuzakhe Associations
Department of Transport Senior Management
Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
I would like to begin by welcoming you all to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's Annual Summit. This is our eighth annual summit. For those of you who are attending a summit for the first time, I would like to give you a little background information as to why we have these summits.
Our mandate, as government, is to deliver a better life for all but particularly for those so unjustly disadvantaged during apartheid. It has long been my belief that the cornerstone of any democracy and just society is a well-informed public. It is this basic philosophy that has underpinned the Department's commitment to strengthening civil society in KwaZulu-Natal through the formation and training of fora and councils, for example Rural Road Transport Forums and Community Road Safety Councils who are with us today.
There can be no doubting the fact that the mandate to create a better life for all does require a commitment to develop policies and implement programmes that create wealth and opportunities among the poor. It is for this reason that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has also committed itself to assisting the emerging business sectors to develop and grow. This commitment is readily evident from the formation of taxi associations and Vukuzakhe associations and their formalisation into Provincial Councils. There can be little doubt that the taxi council and the Vukuzakhe council in KwaZulu-Natal today represent powerful lobby groups. May they grow from strength to strength and let us be there to support them.
Our annual summits provide an opportunity to keep the public properly informed about new developments in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and on how we have allocated our budgets. These summits also provide us with an opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding contributions that many of you have made towards creating a better life for all in your communities and your constituencies. When I look at all the trophies displayed here today I realise how much the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has grown.
Knowledge is indeed the most democratic source of power.
In his 2003 State of the Nation Address President Mbeki noted: "We are determined to ensure that government goes to the people so that we sharply improve the quality of the outcomes of public expenditures intended to raise the standard of living of our people. It is wrong that government should oblige the people to come to the government even in circumstances in which the people do not know what services the government offers and have no means to pay for the transport to reach government offices."
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has always committed itself to a communication strategy that ensured that all the public are well informed of what services and supports that they can expect from us. The fact that this is our eighth annual summit confirms this commitment. Access to knowledge and, through knowledge the sharing of power, must be easily available and affordable to all. I can assure you all today that there will be no slowing down in my department's commitment to strengthening civil society structures and the emerging business sector in KwaZulu-Natal.
There are two important events that will take place in the near future and my address today will focus on our contribution to these events.
The first event is the Growth and Development Summit, which will take place on 7 June 2003. This summit is a response to President Mbeki's call in his 2003 State of the Nation Address that "our country has a continuing task to push back the frontiers of poverty and expand access to a better life for all. The challenge we all face as South Africans is to put our shoulders to the wheel to accelerate the pace of change." The Growth and Development Summit is a follow up of the October 1998 Job Summit. Many of you will be aware of the fact that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport presented the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative at that summit. It is important therefore that we reflect on our own progress made to create jobs and opportunities for wealth among the poor of KwaZulu-Natal. Are we all ready to put our shoulders to the wheel to accelerate the pace of change, the pace of prosperity for all in KwaZulu-Natal?
The second important event is that the World Health Organisation - alarmed by the increasing numbers of people killed in road traffic related incidents - has dedicated World Health Day, which falls on 7 April 2004, to road safety. We want to start planning and preparing with you for 7 April 2004. It presents us with an opportunity to show the world that we too are alarmed by the numbers of people killed on our roads and that we are determined to stop this carnage. I am certain that if I asked all of you present today to stand up if you have lost a loved one, a close friend, a comrade or a neighbour through road collisions there would be very few people left sitting at this summit. Yet it is a scientific fact that between 80% and 90% of all road collisions are caused by human error. Unsafe roads affect us all. The rich, the poor, the motorist, the pedestrian, the passenger. There are no exceptions. Surely the strength and commitment that we showed to rid our country of apartheid and a culture of mindless racism and discrimination can now be channelled into ridding our country of a culture of road rage and mindless antisocial road behaviour. Surely this is not too much to hope for. Today's summit is the first day of our planning together with you for World Road Safety Day on 7 April 2004.
Preparing for the Growth and Development Summit
In his 2003 State of the Nation Address President Mbeki called on all South Africans to work towards a shared vision for growth and development. Underpinning a shared vision for growth and development is the need to create jobs and a commitment to redistribute our economy through programmes that focus on black economic empowerment.
Creating new and sustainable jobs is no easy task.
A recent study by an international investment bank - Goldman Sachs - has estimated that it will take South Africa about ten years to halve unemployment providing there are no major political upheavals and that our economy experiences an average growth rate of 5% per annum.
This is a very sobering statement. Ten years is a long time, especially if you are unemployed. The conditions that we must meet to only halve our unemployment rate in ten years time are difficult to guarantee. Political stability is a necessary condition to attract international investors. Economic growth is a necessary condition to sustain job creation.
In his budget speech my colleague, the Honourable MEC for Finance, Mr Peter Miller, drew our attention to the fact that the economic growth of our province has not kept pace with that of other provinces and the country as a whole. Mr Miller reported that between 1996 and 2000 our KwaZulu-Natal economic growth rate averaged only 1% per annum. This poor economic performance meant that many jobs were lost and that the number of unemployed people in our province increased to over one million. Of these 94% were black and 53,5% were women.
Saddened as I am when I read these figures I do take some comfort in the performance of my own department and it does strengthen my resolve to do better.
It is a truism in development that developing countries cannot possibly develop unless they are prepared to invest in transport infrastructure. Transport is considered integral to all service provision as well as the supply and marketing of commodities. While initial capital expenditure on road infrastructures is considerable, expenditure does decline in later years as maintenance requires less resources. Our budget has been guided by this thinking and this year my department will spend more than a billion rand on roads, roads and more roads.
More than one billion rand on roads does mean that we will be in a position to provide more than R370 million worth of work to Vukuzakhe contractors. Vukuzakhe contractors will in turn create some 30 000 jobs. We will also increase our number of Zibambele contracts to 17 390 with a value of some R73 million.
These statistics are something we can all take pride in. We have gone from concept in the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative (1998) to implementation in a very short space of time. Zibambele was only piloted in the year 2000. To have achieved 14 800 contracts already and to be targeting 17 390 in 2003/2004 is truly remarkable. Vukuzakhe has grown from a zero budget to a contracts value of more than R370 million in 2003/2004. This too is a remarkable achievement.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport through its policies and programmes has created new and sustainable jobs in the construction sector while our province has shed jobs in other influential sectors.
I am pleased to report that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is increasingly giving critical attention to the involvement of rural suppliers in support of its road construction and maintenance projects. Emerging merchants, who have previously received preferential treatment in the supply of tools under the Zibambele road maintenance contract system, are now being organised under the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme (ARRUP) to jointly tender to supply items and materials in bulk. Some 150 rural suppliers have now registered on the Department's database. They are being assisted to register on the Provincial Suppliers database and to become tax compliant.
Our commitment in tabling the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative in 1998 was that we would review the way we managed road construction and road maintenance in KwaZulu-Natal so as to maximise work and business opportunities for disadvantaged communities. I believe we have kept to that commitment.
Our commitment when we launched the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme (ARRUP) was to go beyond the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. In ARRUP we committed ourselves to exploring, with local leaders and other government departments, the range of potential development investments that improved access could catalyse.
Today you find a rich development dialogue around all our ARRUP road projects. A good illustration of this comes from our Osizweni project. Our engineers on site are currently assisting Inkosi Ntuli and his ward to investigate the viability of coal deposits located on their tribal lands. Inkosi Ntuli and his community have known about these coal deposits for many generations. During Inkosi Ntuli's school days his daily task was to collect a sack of coal on his way back home from school. Today Inkosi Ntuli is the leader of his community. The real issue here is why did he have to wait so long for assistance. The real issue here is that he and his community have a resource whose potential for development has never been investigated. Should a coalmine prove viable its development will create massive new wealth and work opportunities in his community.
The truth of the matter is that, despite the fact that our rural economy has been stagnant for several decades, there is a potential to develop viable agricultural, tourism, transport and mining industries. What people have lacked in the past is access to information. If poor people are to develop the potential of their land and natural resources, then they need access to information and access to support systems. We have begun to facilitate this through the creation of Project Liaison Committees on all ARRUP roads. This has undoubtedly advanced the objectives of co-operative governance to create a better life for all. I am particularly pleased with the co-operation between my department and the Department of Agriculture. I am confident that beneficiary communities living in the vicinity of all ARRUP roads will soon benefit from increased investment into their communities, improved land use management systems as well as dramatically improved access. Here I would like to emphasise that when we talk about improved access we are not just referring to motorise transport.
The cargo bicycles and tricycles that you see here today will be introduced on various ARRUP projects as part of our investigation into inter-modal transport systems to improve the overall mobility of rural communities. The cargo bicycles and tricycles on display have been engineered in conjunction with Afribike. They are local products engineered and assembled in South Africa. We intend to pilot these on various ARRUP projects in order to test both the engineering efficiency of their design as well as community response. Should there be sufficient demand at a community level we will set up appropriate franchise systems for the distribution and maintenance of cargo bicycles and tricycles. This will create new business opportunities within rural communities. We have now established a task team to review the feasibility of setting up a manufacturing and assembly plant in KwaZulu-Natal.
The first pilot will begin in the week of the 27th of May 2003 in Vulindlela thereafter pilot studies will be rolled-out as part of the Inkandla, St Faiths, and Osizweni ARRUP projects.
For those of you who are not yet fully familiar with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's programmes, let me once again highlight our ARRUP projects.
* Nongoma Project - 117 km (Mtubatuba through Hlabisa and Nongoma to Vryheid and Pongola), Project value: R321 million
* Ongoye KwaBulawayo Project - 47 km: Project value: R124 million
* Nkandla Project - 80 km (Kranskop to Eshowe), Project value: R208 million
* St Faiths Project - 48 km (Highflats - St Faiths - Port Shepstone), Project value: R141 million
* Osizweni Project - 27 km, Project value: R64 million
* Vulindlela Project - 13 km, Project value: R38 million
* Ndwedwe Project - 31 km, Project value: R87 million
* Ulundi Project - 95 km (Ulundi - Richards Bay), Project value: R303 million
In my budget speech delivered on 9 April 2003 I also announced the commencement of what I like to call the "Tale of Three Cities". The "Tale of Three Cities" is a plan to link Ulundi, Durban and Pietermaritzburg by blacktop road and to be accessible from all directions within our province. Not only will this involve the upgrading of the Ulundi to Richards Bay transport corridor (R303 million), it will also involve the upgrading of road P577 from New Germany via KwaDabeka to link up with the Inanda road at Duffs Road intersection (R400 million) and the upgrading of a critical public transport corridor through Pietermaritzburg (R100 million).
Over the past few years increased budget allocations to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport have been put to good use. Not only have they created a more balanced road network within the province providing new and improved access for millions of citizens, they have created significant sustainable work and business opportunities within resource poor communities. I believe we can go to the Growth and Development Summit with our heads held high. Together we devised a plan - the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. Together we implemented that plan through Zibambele, Vukuzakhe, ARRUP and now the "Tale of Three Cities".
World Road Safety Day (7 April 2004)
The fact that the World Health Organisation has dedicated World Health Day to road safety tells us that road related fatalities is a world wide problem and not just a South African or KwaZulu-Natal problem. We are not alone. Some countries have managed to find solutions and reduce the carnage on their roads. This is precisely why we have modelled our KwaZulu-Natal road safety initiatives and the National Arrive Alive initiative on that developed by Victoria, Australia.
The World Health Organisation has projected that, unless current trends are checked, an estimated 2,4 million people will die every year in road crashes by 2020. This would make road crashes the third highest cause of death in the world (after heart disease and depression). In addition to a concern over such high fatalities the World Health Organisation notes that injuries due to road traffic collisions are a major drain on a nation's health and financial resources. So much so that in some developing countries one in every ten hospital beds is occupied by a road traffic victim. I myself have repeatedly reported to you that road collision in KwaZulu-Natal cost this province some R2 billion per annum.
Studies have shown that 90% of all traffic fatalities occur in developing countries and that the majority of victims of road traffic collisions are pedestrians and users of public transport. In South Africa pedestrians make up 38% of our road fatalities.
What makes these statistics even more shocking is that we are dealing with a preventable problem. Some 80% to 90% of road collisions are caused by human error. The known causes of road collisions are speeding, drunken driving, unroadworthy vehicles, untrained drivers, overloading and a complacent public.
In KwaZulu-Natal we have introduced a wide range of Zero Tolerance enforcement measures in an attempt to reduce bad driving practices. These have included the closure of corrupt vehicle testing stations, the conversion of drivers licences, overloading control, increased speed and reckless driving surveillance, the introduction of booze busses, the launch of the Public Transport Law Enforcement Unit (PTEU) and the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Enquiry into Taxi Violence in KwaZulu-Natal.
We have also launched a wide range of road safety education and communication programmes. These include mass campaigns such as Siyabhakumbula, Asiphephe focus days, interdenominational prayer days, the establishment of Community Road Safety Councils, Omela Ngasekhaya, Child in Traffic, scholar patrols and many more.
All this has kept us very busy but is has not, in itself, been enough to prevent the continuing carnage on our roads. The bottom line is that we cannot succeed unless you help us to succeed. We need to work together so that we can celebrate World Road Safety Day on 7 April 2004.
Today's summit is the start of a new beginning. Today we must recommit ourselves to transforming the culture of intolerance, the culture of indifference, the culture of hate, which best describes our road use behaviour, to a new cultural order. I am talking here of a culture of tolerance, of reconciliation, of care, of respect. I am talking here of the culture of the new South Africa. This culture has found its way into our politics, into our classrooms, into our boardrooms, into our places of recreation, but it has not yet found its way into our motor vehicles and onto our roads.
Today I am recommitting the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and the RTI to its Zero Tolerance enforcement programmes. I am recommitting the Road Safety Directorate and Asiphephe to its support to our Community Road Safety Councils, to schools and to the education and awareness programmes that they execute so well. But today I am also saying let us take up the challenge together. We as a department can only facilitate and assist you, the road users, to make the cultural and behavioural changes that are so critical to address what is a preventable problem.
You are all familiar with our current Zero Tolerance and Asiphephe programmes. Today I would like to familiarise you with some forthcoming and recent initiatives.
We have held mass mobilisation awareness campaigns in the past. The evidence is that campaigns such as Siyabhakumbula were very effective while they lasted. People did stop and think before they got behind the wheel of car. There was a reduction in drunken driving, speeding and reckless driving. Sadly, these behavioural changes did not last in everyone.
On 27 May 2003 we will meet with church leaders drawn from all denominations throughout KwaZulu-Natal. We intend putting our heads together to devise a mass mobilisation plan that will effect a lasting change. This will be rolled out throughout KwaZulu-Natal.
Together with the transport authorities of Gauteng and Western Cape we intend re-meeting with our colleagues from Victoria, Australia and re-dedicating our joint commitment to streamline the legal frameworks and systems that are so critical to successful enforcement. Collectively our three provinces comprise 65% of vehicle ownership in South Africa. The License Points Demerit system will be implemented throughout South Africa from September 2003. We believe that where Victoria succeeded so too we can, indeed must, succeed.
The recent death of fourteen farm workers who were killed in a crash involving a truck on the R68 reminded me that our programmes often ignore the plight of farm workers. I have met with my colleague, the newly appointed MEC for Agriculture, Mr Dumisani Makahaye, and together we intend initiating a range of interventions that will improve the lot of farm workers. Our starting point will be to offer the assistance of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport to the farming community to improve their driving skills. We are fully aware that many drivers of farm vehicles are unlicensed. We are prepared to work with such drivers, to sponsor them to acquire an appropriate learners licence and to commit our own officers to teach them advanced driving skills. With the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labour and the assistance of KwaNalu we intend to broaden our intervention to include accessing farm workers to certification in terms of the Skills Development Act. Many farm workers have significant hands on skills, which they developed through maintaining farm machinery, buildings and other assets, but lack upward mobility in the job market precisely because they lack certification. It is precisely to address this legacy of apartheid that the Skills Development Act was passed and why government has established some thirty Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
There can be little doubt that the success of Operation Shanela has made transport by taxi a lot safer. However, we have realised that enforcement alone without engaging the taxi industry will not solve these problems completely. It is for this reason that we have already done a pilot project in Nquthu training 150 taxi drivers and 150 taxi owners in road safety and business development management. I am proud to say that of all the people who registered for this course we have had 100% attendance and participation. We did this with co-operation from the local municipality and the local taxi industry. The Department has invested R1, 2 million rand in this groundbreaking project - a first in the whole country - and its success has guaranteed that we will be extending the venture to other regions of KwaZulu-Natal and to other provinces.
Through this scheme, in partnership with TETA, we want to change the mindset of our taxi operators, some of who do not seem to value the lives of their customers, namely commuters. This was made horribly clear through the recent horrific head on collision between two minibus taxis ferrying school children and teachers back home. It appears that the taxi drivers were involved in a game with each other. This game is called "ukuGeyima" and its rules are that vehicles going in the opposite direction pretend to be crashing head on but, at the last minute, swerve away to avoid crashing. This is a sick game, which brings the taxi industry into disrepute. The KwaZulu-Natal Taxi Council has undertaken to ensure that their associations purge themselves of those drivers that so unnecessarily put the lives of commuters at risk. It is shocking that this game of ukuGeyima has gone unchecked for so long by the very commuters whose lives are put at risk by taxi drivers who do not respect them as fare paying customers. We have all got a lot to live for in our democratic South Africa. I am urging all of you who use public transport: Please do not give up your life so needlessly, so carelessly. Report reckless driving. Report overloading. Report unroadworthy vehicles. Phone the Mpimpa hotline. The number is 086 221 1010. We will follow up your complaint. We will support you in making our roads safer for all road users.
Conclusion
Distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen I would like to conclude by quoting from President Mbeki's State of the Nation Address delivered on 14 February 2003.
"As we enter the last year of the First Decade of Freedom, we will heed the lessons of these first ten years and build on what has been achieved. Through dispassionate research and systematic planning and with renewed courage we must together approach the Second Decade of Freedom (2004 - 2014) as one in which the tide of progress will sweep away the accumulated legacy of poverty and underdevelopment."
"The tide has turned. The people's contract for a better tomorrow is taking shape."
The struggle to rid ourselves of poverty is part of our struggle to rid ourselves of injustice. The death of apartheid marked the birth of a new struggle. We have a very long way to go to create a better life for all. Today, as we reflect on where we have come from, as we reflect on what we have achieved and as we contemplate what still needs to be done, we can confirm that we have put in place solid foundations. We are now ready to accelerate the pace to prosperity.
Thank you.
Issued by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
20 May 2003
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Ndebele: KwaZulu-Natal Annual Transport Summit
ADDRESS TO THE KWAZULU-NATAL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT'S 2003 ANNUAL SUMMIT BY THE KWAZULU-NATAL MEC FOR TRANSPORT, S'BU NDEBELE, 20 May 2003
Ministers
AmaKhosi
Members of National and Provincial Parliament
Mayors and Councillors
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Heads of Department (National and Provincial)
Members of the Taxi Associations
Members of the Rural Road Transport Forums
Members of the Community Road Safety Councils
Members of the Vukuzakhe Associations
Department of Transport Senior Management
Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
I would like to begin by welcoming you all to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's Annual Summit. This is our eighth annual summit. For those of you who are attending a summit for the first time, I would like to give you a little background information as to why we have these summits.
Our mandate, as government, is to deliver a better life for all but particularly for those so unjustly disadvantaged during apartheid. It has long been my belief that the cornerstone of any democracy and just society is a well-informed public. It is this basic philosophy that has underpinned the Department's commitment to strengthening civil society in KwaZulu-Natal through the formation and training of fora and councils, for example Rural Road Transport Forums and Community Road Safety Councils who are with us today.
There can be no doubting the fact that the mandate to create a better life for all does require a commitment to develop policies and implement programmes that create wealth and opportunities among the poor. It is for this reason that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has also committed itself to assisting the emerging business sectors to develop and grow. This commitment is readily evident from the formation of taxi associations and Vukuzakhe associations and their formalisation into Provincial Councils. There can be little doubt that the taxi council and the Vukuzakhe council in KwaZulu-Natal today represent powerful lobby groups. May they grow from strength to strength and let us be there to support them.
Our annual summits provide an opportunity to keep the public properly informed about new developments in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and on how we have allocated our budgets. These summits also provide us with an opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding contributions that many of you have made towards creating a better life for all in your communities and your constituencies. When I look at all the trophies displayed here today I realise how much the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has grown.
Knowledge is indeed the most democratic source of power.
In his 2003 State of the Nation Address President Mbeki noted: "We are determined to ensure that government goes to the people so that we sharply improve the quality of the outcomes of public expenditures intended to raise the standard of living of our people. It is wrong that government should oblige the people to come to the government even in circumstances in which the people do not know what services the government offers and have no means to pay for the transport to reach government offices."
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has always committed itself to a communication strategy that ensured that all the public are well informed of what services and supports that they can expect from us. The fact that this is our eighth annual summit confirms this commitment. Access to knowledge and, through knowledge the sharing of power, must be easily available and affordable to all. I can assure you all today that there will be no slowing down in my department's commitment to strengthening civil society structures and the emerging business sector in KwaZulu-Natal.
There are two important events that will take place in the near future and my address today will focus on our contribution to these events.
The first event is the Growth and Development Summit, which will take place on 7 June 2003. This summit is a response to President Mbeki's call in his 2003 State of the Nation Address that "our country has a continuing task to push back the frontiers of poverty and expand access to a better life for all. The challenge we all face as South Africans is to put our shoulders to the wheel to accelerate the pace of change." The Growth and Development Summit is a follow up of the October 1998 Job Summit. Many of you will be aware of the fact that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport presented the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative at that summit. It is important therefore that we reflect on our own progress made to create jobs and opportunities for wealth among the poor of KwaZulu-Natal. Are we all ready to put our shoulders to the wheel to accelerate the pace of change, the pace of prosperity for all in KwaZulu-Natal?
The second important event is that the World Health Organisation - alarmed by the increasing numbers of people killed in road traffic related incidents - has dedicated World Health Day, which falls on 7 April 2004, to road safety. We want to start planning and preparing with you for 7 April 2004. It presents us with an opportunity to show the world that we too are alarmed by the numbers of people killed on our roads and that we are determined to stop this carnage. I am certain that if I asked all of you present today to stand up if you have lost a loved one, a close friend, a comrade or a neighbour through road collisions there would be very few people left sitting at this summit. Yet it is a scientific fact that between 80% and 90% of all road collisions are caused by human error. Unsafe roads affect us all. The rich, the poor, the motorist, the pedestrian, the passenger. There are no exceptions. Surely the strength and commitment that we showed to rid our country of apartheid and a culture of mindless racism and discrimination can now be channelled into ridding our country of a culture of road rage and mindless antisocial road behaviour. Surely this is not too much to hope for. Today's summit is the first day of our planning together with you for World Road Safety Day on 7 April 2004.
Preparing for the Growth and Development Summit
In his 2003 State of the Nation Address President Mbeki called on all South Africans to work towards a shared vision for growth and development. Underpinning a shared vision for growth and development is the need to create jobs and a commitment to redistribute our economy through programmes that focus on black economic empowerment.
Creating new and sustainable jobs is no easy task.
A recent study by an international investment bank - Goldman Sachs - has estimated that it will take South Africa about ten years to halve unemployment providing there are no major political upheavals and that our economy experiences an average growth rate of 5% per annum.
This is a very sobering statement. Ten years is a long time, especially if you are unemployed. The conditions that we must meet to only halve our unemployment rate in ten years time are difficult to guarantee. Political stability is a necessary condition to attract international investors. Economic growth is a necessary condition to sustain job creation.
In his budget speech my colleague, the Honourable MEC for Finance, Mr Peter Miller, drew our attention to the fact that the economic growth of our province has not kept pace with that of other provinces and the country as a whole. Mr Miller reported that between 1996 and 2000 our KwaZulu-Natal economic growth rate averaged only 1% per annum. This poor economic performance meant that many jobs were lost and that the number of unemployed people in our province increased to over one million. Of these 94% were black and 53,5% were women.
Saddened as I am when I read these figures I do take some comfort in the performance of my own department and it does strengthen my resolve to do better.
It is a truism in development that developing countries cannot possibly develop unless they are prepared to invest in transport infrastructure. Transport is considered integral to all service provision as well as the supply and marketing of commodities. While initial capital expenditure on road infrastructures is considerable, expenditure does decline in later years as maintenance requires less resources. Our budget has been guided by this thinking and this year my department will spend more than a billion rand on roads, roads and more roads.
More than one billion rand on roads does mean that we will be in a position to provide more than R370 million worth of work to Vukuzakhe contractors. Vukuzakhe contractors will in turn create some 30 000 jobs. We will also increase our number of Zibambele contracts to 17 390 with a value of some R73 million.
These statistics are something we can all take pride in. We have gone from concept in the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative (1998) to implementation in a very short space of time. Zibambele was only piloted in the year 2000. To have achieved 14 800 contracts already and to be targeting 17 390 in 2003/2004 is truly remarkable. Vukuzakhe has grown from a zero budget to a contracts value of more than R370 million in 2003/2004. This too is a remarkable achievement.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport through its policies and programmes has created new and sustainable jobs in the construction sector while our province has shed jobs in other influential sectors.
I am pleased to report that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is increasingly giving critical attention to the involvement of rural suppliers in support of its road construction and maintenance projects. Emerging merchants, who have previously received preferential treatment in the supply of tools under the Zibambele road maintenance contract system, are now being organised under the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme (ARRUP) to jointly tender to supply items and materials in bulk. Some 150 rural suppliers have now registered on the Department's database. They are being assisted to register on the Provincial Suppliers database and to become tax compliant.
Our commitment in tabling the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative in 1998 was that we would review the way we managed road construction and road maintenance in KwaZulu-Natal so as to maximise work and business opportunities for disadvantaged communities. I believe we have kept to that commitment.
Our commitment when we launched the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme (ARRUP) was to go beyond the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. In ARRUP we committed ourselves to exploring, with local leaders and other government departments, the range of potential development investments that improved access could catalyse.
Today you find a rich development dialogue around all our ARRUP road projects. A good illustration of this comes from our Osizweni project. Our engineers on site are currently assisting Inkosi Ntuli and his ward to investigate the viability of coal deposits located on their tribal lands. Inkosi Ntuli and his community have known about these coal deposits for many generations. During Inkosi Ntuli's school days his daily task was to collect a sack of coal on his way back home from school. Today Inkosi Ntuli is the leader of his community. The real issue here is why did he have to wait so long for assistance. The real issue here is that he and his community have a resource whose potential for development has never been investigated. Should a coalmine prove viable its development will create massive new wealth and work opportunities in his community.
The truth of the matter is that, despite the fact that our rural economy has been stagnant for several decades, there is a potential to develop viable agricultural, tourism, transport and mining industries. What people have lacked in the past is access to information. If poor people are to develop the potential of their land and natural resources, then they need access to information and access to support systems. We have begun to facilitate this through the creation of Project Liaison Committees on all ARRUP roads. This has undoubtedly advanced the objectives of co-operative governance to create a better life for all. I am particularly pleased with the co-operation between my department and the Department of Agriculture. I am confident that beneficiary communities living in the vicinity of all ARRUP roads will soon benefit from increased investment into their communities, improved land use management systems as well as dramatically improved access. Here I would like to emphasise that when we talk about improved access we are not just referring to motorise transport.
The cargo bicycles and tricycles that you see here today will be introduced on various ARRUP projects as part of our investigation into inter-modal transport systems to improve the overall mobility of rural communities. The cargo bicycles and tricycles on display have been engineered in conjunction with Afribike. They are local products engineered and assembled in South Africa. We intend to pilot these on various ARRUP projects in order to test both the engineering efficiency of their design as well as community response. Should there be sufficient demand at a community level we will set up appropriate franchise systems for the distribution and maintenance of cargo bicycles and tricycles. This will create new business opportunities within rural communities. We have now established a task team to review the feasibility of setting up a manufacturing and assembly plant in KwaZulu-Natal.
The first pilot will begin in the week of the 27th of May 2003 in Vulindlela thereafter pilot studies will be rolled-out as part of the Inkandla, St Faiths, and Osizweni ARRUP projects.
For those of you who are not yet fully familiar with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's programmes, let me once again highlight our ARRUP projects.
* Nongoma Project - 117 km (Mtubatuba through Hlabisa and Nongoma to Vryheid and Pongola), Project value: R321 million
* Ongoye KwaBulawayo Project - 47 km: Project value: R124 million
* Nkandla Project - 80 km (Kranskop to Eshowe), Project value: R208 million
* St Faiths Project - 48 km (Highflats - St Faiths - Port Shepstone), Project value: R141 million
* Osizweni Project - 27 km, Project value: R64 million
* Vulindlela Project - 13 km, Project value: R38 million
* Ndwedwe Project - 31 km, Project value: R87 million
* Ulundi Project - 95 km (Ulundi - Richards Bay), Project value: R303 million
In my budget speech delivered on 9 April 2003 I also announced the commencement of what I like to call the "Tale of Three Cities". The "Tale of Three Cities" is a plan to link Ulundi, Durban and Pietermaritzburg by blacktop road and to be accessible from all directions within our province. Not only will this involve the upgrading of the Ulundi to Richards Bay transport corridor (R303 million), it will also involve the upgrading of road P577 from New Germany via KwaDabeka to link up with the Inanda road at Duffs Road intersection (R400 million) and the upgrading of a critical public transport corridor through Pietermaritzburg (R100 million).
Over the past few years increased budget allocations to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport have been put to good use. Not only have they created a more balanced road network within the province providing new and improved access for millions of citizens, they have created significant sustainable work and business opportunities within resource poor communities. I believe we can go to the Growth and Development Summit with our heads held high. Together we devised a plan - the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. Together we implemented that plan through Zibambele, Vukuzakhe, ARRUP and now the "Tale of Three Cities".
World Road Safety Day (7 April 2004)
The fact that the World Health Organisation has dedicated World Health Day to road safety tells us that road related fatalities is a world wide problem and not just a South African or KwaZulu-Natal problem. We are not alone. Some countries have managed to find solutions and reduce the carnage on their roads. This is precisely why we have modelled our KwaZulu-Natal road safety initiatives and the National Arrive Alive initiative on that developed by Victoria, Australia.
The World Health Organisation has projected that, unless current trends are checked, an estimated 2,4 million people will die every year in road crashes by 2020. This would make road crashes the third highest cause of death in the world (after heart disease and depression). In addition to a concern over such high fatalities the World Health Organisation notes that injuries due to road traffic collisions are a major drain on a nation's health and financial resources. So much so that in some developing countries one in every ten hospital beds is occupied by a road traffic victim. I myself have repeatedly reported to you that road collision in KwaZulu-Natal cost this province some R2 billion per annum.
Studies have shown that 90% of all traffic fatalities occur in developing countries and that the majority of victims of road traffic collisions are pedestrians and users of public transport. In South Africa pedestrians make up 38% of our road fatalities.
What makes these statistics even more shocking is that we are dealing with a preventable problem. Some 80% to 90% of road collisions are caused by human error. The known causes of road collisions are speeding, drunken driving, unroadworthy vehicles, untrained drivers, overloading and a complacent public.
In KwaZulu-Natal we have introduced a wide range of Zero Tolerance enforcement measures in an attempt to reduce bad driving practices. These have included the closure of corrupt vehicle testing stations, the conversion of drivers licences, overloading control, increased speed and reckless driving surveillance, the introduction of booze busses, the launch of the Public Transport Law Enforcement Unit (PTEU) and the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Enquiry into Taxi Violence in KwaZulu-Natal.
We have also launched a wide range of road safety education and communication programmes. These include mass campaigns such as Siyabhakumbula, Asiphephe focus days, interdenominational prayer days, the establishment of Community Road Safety Councils, Omela Ngasekhaya, Child in Traffic, scholar patrols and many more.
All this has kept us very busy but is has not, in itself, been enough to prevent the continuing carnage on our roads. The bottom line is that we cannot succeed unless you help us to succeed. We need to work together so that we can celebrate World Road Safety Day on 7 April 2004.
Today's summit is the start of a new beginning. Today we must recommit ourselves to transforming the culture of intolerance, the culture of indifference, the culture of hate, which best describes our road use behaviour, to a new cultural order. I am talking here of a culture of tolerance, of reconciliation, of care, of respect. I am talking here of the culture of the new South Africa. This culture has found its way into our politics, into our classrooms, into our boardrooms, into our places of recreation, but it has not yet found its way into our motor vehicles and onto our roads.
Today I am recommitting the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and the RTI to its Zero Tolerance enforcement programmes. I am recommitting the Road Safety Directorate and Asiphephe to its support to our Community Road Safety Councils, to schools and to the education and awareness programmes that they execute so well. But today I am also saying let us take up the challenge together. We as a department can only facilitate and assist you, the road users, to make the cultural and behavioural changes that are so critical to address what is a preventable problem.
You are all familiar with our current Zero Tolerance and Asiphephe programmes. Today I would like to familiarise you with some forthcoming and recent initiatives.
We have held mass mobilisation awareness campaigns in the past. The evidence is that campaigns such as Siyabhakumbula were very effective while they lasted. People did stop and think before they got behind the wheel of car. There was a reduction in drunken driving, speeding and reckless driving. Sadly, these behavioural changes did not last in everyone.
On 27 May 2003 we will meet with church leaders drawn from all denominations throughout KwaZulu-Natal. We intend putting our heads together to devise a mass mobilisation plan that will effect a lasting change. This will be rolled out throughout KwaZulu-Natal.
Together with the transport authorities of Gauteng and Western Cape we intend re-meeting with our colleagues from Victoria, Australia and re-dedicating our joint commitment to streamline the legal frameworks and systems that are so critical to successful enforcement. Collectively our three provinces comprise 65% of vehicle ownership in South Africa. The License Points Demerit system will be implemented throughout South Africa from September 2003. We believe that where Victoria succeeded so too we can, indeed must, succeed.
The recent death of fourteen farm workers who were killed in a crash involving a truck on the R68 reminded me that our programmes often ignore the plight of farm workers. I have met with my colleague, the newly appointed MEC for Agriculture, Mr Dumisani Makahaye, and together we intend initiating a range of interventions that will improve the lot of farm workers. Our starting point will be to offer the assistance of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport to the farming community to improve their driving skills. We are fully aware that many drivers of farm vehicles are unlicensed. We are prepared to work with such drivers, to sponsor them to acquire an appropriate learners licence and to commit our own officers to teach them advanced driving skills. With the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labour and the assistance of KwaNalu we intend to broaden our intervention to include accessing farm workers to certification in terms of the Skills Development Act. Many farm workers have significant hands on skills, which they developed through maintaining farm machinery, buildings and other assets, but lack upward mobility in the job market precisely because they lack certification. It is precisely to address this legacy of apartheid that the Skills Development Act was passed and why government has established some thirty Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
There can be little doubt that the success of Operation Shanela has made transport by taxi a lot safer. However, we have realised that enforcement alone without engaging the taxi industry will not solve these problems completely. It is for this reason that we have already done a pilot project in Nquthu training 150 taxi drivers and 150 taxi owners in road safety and business development management. I am proud to say that of all the people who registered for this course we have had 100% attendance and participation. We did this with co-operation from the local municipality and the local taxi industry. The Department has invested R1, 2 million rand in this groundbreaking project - a first in the whole country - and its success has guaranteed that we will be extending the venture to other regions of KwaZulu-Natal and to other provinces.
Through this scheme, in partnership with TETA, we want to change the mindset of our taxi operators, some of who do not seem to value the lives of their customers, namely commuters. This was made horribly clear through the recent horrific head on collision between two minibus taxis ferrying school children and teachers back home. It appears that the taxi drivers were involved in a game with each other. This game is called "ukuGeyima" and its rules are that vehicles going in the opposite direction pretend to be crashing head on but, at the last minute, swerve away to avoid crashing. This is a sick game, which brings the taxi industry into disrepute. The KwaZulu-Natal Taxi Council has undertaken to ensure that their associations purge themselves of those drivers that so unnecessarily put the lives of commuters at risk. It is shocking that this game of ukuGeyima has gone unchecked for so long by the very commuters whose lives are put at risk by taxi drivers who do not respect them as fare paying customers. We have all got a lot to live for in our democratic South Africa. I am urging all of you who use public transport: Please do not give up your life so needlessly, so carelessly. Report reckless driving. Report overloading. Report unroadworthy vehicles. Phone the Mpimpa hotline. The number is 086 221 1010. We will follow up your complaint. We will support you in making our roads safer for all road users.
Conclusion
Distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen I would like to conclude by quoting from President Mbeki's State of the Nation Address delivered on 14 February 2003.
"As we enter the last year of the First Decade of Freedom, we will heed the lessons of these first ten years and build on what has been achieved. Through dispassionate research and systematic planning and with renewed courage we must together approach the Second Decade of Freedom (2004 - 2014) as one in which the tide of progress will sweep away the accumulated legacy of poverty and underdevelopment."
"The tide has turned. The people's contract for a better tomorrow is taking shape."
The struggle to rid ourselves of poverty is part of our struggle to rid ourselves of injustice. The death of apartheid marked the birth of a new struggle. We have a very long way to go to create a better life for all. Today, as we reflect on where we have come from, as we reflect on what we have achieved and as we contemplate what still needs to be done, we can confirm that we have put in place solid foundations. We are now ready to accelerate the pace to prosperity.
Thank you.
Issued by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
20 May 2003
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