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DA:Sharon Hoosen, Address by DA KZN Spokesperson on Transport, during a debate in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature (05/05/22)

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DA:Sharon Hoosen, Address by DA KZN Spokesperson on Transport, during a debate in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature (05/05/22)

6th May 2022

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Last month, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) experienced the wrath of Mother Nature with more than 400 lives lost due to devastating flooding. The deluge caused mass destruction, leaving hundreds of families displaced while destroying property, roads, infrastructure and limiting access to work, schools, hospitals and severely limiting the general movement of citizens. Today, our road networks remain severely compromised, with major re-routing of traffic leading to increased delays and posing a severe disadvantage to KZN’s people. Sadly, while our citizens have become increasingly resilient in times of crisis, they have also become resigned to the fact that there is little hope of this ANC-run provincial government coming to their aid and restoring basic services and infrastructure.

Last year, the Democratic Alliance said that when we came to this years’ Transport Budget Debate there would still be roads, bridges and other public infrastructure without any improvement. This as a result of an ineffective ANC provincial leadership, which is quick to spend money but slow to deliver to the people. This is further evidenced by the fact that despite more than three weeks having passed since the flooding, Members are yet to receive a total assessment report on the damage.

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Missing Disaster Relief funds

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Three years ago KZN also experienced major damage to public property due to floods. At the time, KZN’s Department of Transport (DoT) received approximately R200million in disaster relief funding. Despite the urgency of the situation, the Department failed to spend this money and it was carried over to the following financial year. During the next financial year, the DoT did spend the money but nobody within the Department knows what it was spent on. It has simply disappeared. The shocking revelation came to light at a recent Transport portfolio committee when the DA requested a departmental report on this expenditure.

Now, as a result of the recent floods, R7billion has allegedly been allocated to the DoT. To date, the Department is yet to produce a report to the portfolio committee to outline how and where these funds will be spent.  If the R200million from 2018 went missing - and no one is being held accountable – what confidence can the people of KZN have that R7.1billion will be spent accordingly?

The Premier assured KZN’s people that there would not be any looting of Disaster Relief Funds – if we ever receive them. The mere fact that he had to do this is because he knows that his government has a reputation for looting and corruption. Every time KZN’s government announces major expenditure projects, it is an invitation to ANC-aligned tender-preneurs to ready themselves for looting of public funds.

 

Irregular Expenditure

Today, the DoT has an irregular expenditure bill of R25billion – up from last years’ R17billion. This represents half of the irregular expenditure of the entire provincial department. On that score alone, this department is the worst performing Department in the KZN government. The DoT is now requesting that R1.5billion be condoned for the end of March 2021 yet has failed to meet the criteria for condonation because it does not have proof of any consequence management or value for money. The AG confirmed this, stating that some of the losses from irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditures were not recovered from those liable. The DA calls on the AG to start the process of holding responsible officials personally liable for wasted funds. They cannot be allowed to get away with this poor management of public money.

 

Critical vacancies

The DoT currently has 3 603 vacant posts which explain the constant under-spending and lack of capacity. These high vacancy rate is having a direct impact on the ability to implement critical projects and also explains why consultants are brought in to do the jobs of staff members. This is having a domino effect on the Department’s performance. The strategy is clear - keep the circle small so that everyone can get a bigger piece of the pie. This, while communities continue to cry out for jobs, decent roads, bridges and effective law enforcement.

 

Road Traffic Inspectorate

There are numerous studies and evidence to prove that increased road patrols lead to fewer fatalities. Yet there has been a consistent reduction in this area in KZN during the past few years. Last year, the DA raised this concern calling for steps to be taken to rectify the issues within the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) which includes critical vacancies. This will lead to more patrols which will make our roads safer and force reckless drivers to comply with the rules of the road.  This would also address alcohol and drug abuse which is a major contributing factor to the increase in road fatalities. Once again, nothing has changed and;

The RTI still has critical vacancies

It is unable to perform, with Inspectors being seconded to two to three stations at a time and;

Officers are not monitored by supervisors which means that they often don’t even turn up for work.

The DA thanks the few dedicated RTI officers that are holding this Department together. Provincial government must act urgently as KZN is already suffering due to the limited outcomes of Department.

 

Learner Transport

The DoT has spent more than R400million on providing transport for learners to 397 schools - roughly R1 million per school per year. It also pays hundreds of millions of Rands each year to private companies for learner transport. Why is this money not used on buses for these schools and to fund schools for the running costs? This would be a good start in addressing the imbalances within our Education system.

The current funding approach is also not sustainable in the long term. Government is simply throwing money into a bottomless pit which is why the DoT has no funds to provide learner transport to thousands of other poor communities. The role that private transport companies play, in the provision of transport to learners, must be explored. The taxi industry needs to play a role here and find ways to contribute positively. In some countries in the world, any child in a school uniform is transported for free because that is one of the conditions of operator permits. The issue of millions of children in poor communities walking long distances to school has been going on for decades. The DA appeals to the MEC to find more innovative ways to address this problem. The current status is not changing the lives of these children and it is the MEC and her Departments responsibility to make a meaningful change.

 

Political agendas

The DA notes the lack of political support given to the MEC despite her often good intentions to restore order to this Department. This is yet another example of ANC factionalism at the expense of the people. The MEC recently submitted a plan to reshape the effectiveness of local DoT offices which included extra levels of accountability for officials. Unfortunately, these posts remain vacant, while citizens remain extremely frustrated with the lack of performance of local DoTs. Again no one is held to account for the lack of performance.  KZN’s people deserve better.

 

 

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