Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikhunga;
The Acting Director General of the Department of Transport, Ntate Mathabatha Mokonyama;
The Executive Management of the Department of Transport present;
Members of the Media;
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Day,

This is my first media briefing and my first public engagement statement since my appointment as the Minister of Transport on the 30th March 217.

I take this opportunity to thank all my predecessors, the Ministers of Transport since 1994, starting with Minister Mac Maharaj, Minister Dullar Omar, Minister Jeff Radebe, Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, Minister Ben Martins and recently Minister Dipuo Peters. I will be meeting Minister Dipuo Peters in particular to discuss matters related to the handover and also to have an opportunity to thank her personally on the contribution that she has made.

It is through the hard work of these man and women, that today I have inherited a functional department with dedicated man and women who are committed towards the realisation of the mission and vision of the Department and government in general.

In the early hours of Tuesday 28 March 2017, South Africa, and the African National Congress dipped its banner in mourning on the passing of Isithwalandwe/Seaparankoe Comrade Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, fondly known as Uncle Kathy. With the passing of Comrade Kathy the nation has lost a titan, an outstanding leader and a great patriot - a man who stands apart for his service to the people of South Africa, and to the country. May their Soul rest in eternal peace.

Ladies and gentlemen, the government of the Republic of South Africa dedicated the year 2017, to the celebration of the centenary of the birth of one of our struggle stalwarts, Oliver Reginald Tambo. Across the length and breadth of our country, government leaders working with communities are embarking on activities to bring development and service delivery to our people in honour of this illustrious laureate and Isithwalande Cde OR Tambo.

It is in this spirit that the transport family will dedicate each of its programmes towards the upliftment of our people, particularly those whose rights Cde OR Tambo fought to be realised. Our people yearned for better infrastructure, particularly road and public transport infrastructure, which is the backbone of economic development towards total emancipation of any community.

I have earlier met the senior management of the Department of Transport to ensure that there is seamless transition and continuation in rendering services to the people of South Africa. Later today, I will be continuing with my consultations to meet the Chairpersons and CEO’s of our State Owned Entities. Our SOE play an important role in the implementation of the mandate of the department in particular and of government in general.

Transport is the heartbeat of economic growth and social development and the Department of Transport is mandated to facilitate and enable a reliable, economic, safe, comfortable and accessible transport infrastructure and services to all.

We meeting today, few days after the launch of the Easter Road Safety Campaign at Somerset West in the Western Cape Province. During this period, we experience large volumes of traffic on our roads as people traverse the length and breadth of our country for their annual religious pilgrimages. Due to this criss-crossing on our roads network, the possibilities of crashes increase as we have witnessed same during similar periods.

As the Department of Transport and all our road State Owned entities, we committed ourselves joined by other State Departments such as the South African Police Services (SAPS), Health, Social Development, Home Affairs and other related supporting services, Interfaith Religious Community, Road Safety Ambassadors and our Social Partners that we will once again go out and protect and serve the South African Community during this Easter season.

The message we want to send out is that: We are ready, willing and able to make a difference in the lives of our people.

Ladies and gentlemen, in this 23rd year of our freedom, our mission remains the quest for a united, democratic, non-sexist, non-racial and prosperous South Africa.

Guided by the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, we are continuing to build a South Africa that must be free from poverty, inequality and unemployment.

On road infrastructure, SANRAL is continuing with the planning phase of the R4.5 billion project to upgrade the current Moloto road. The Moloto Road is currently under construction with the purpose of ensuring the safety of road users and also bring to an end, the accidents that claim many lives.

We also want to assure the public that we are alive to the concerns on issues that are introduced by government from time to time. In this case I want to refer to the concerns raised about tolling of the roads in particular, the issue of the funding of the road infrastructure. We shall engage with all relevant stakeholders on the contentious issues of Etolling taking cue from the existing government policies as well as the concerns of our people. We want to assure the nation that we are government that listens.

During 2016, South Africa also signed a cooperation agreement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to build the Moloto Rail Development Corridor.

Ladies and gentlemen, the RTMC has since May 3rd 2015 been ready to administer ENATIS. Their state of readiness has unreasonably been delayed and denied by Tasima, employing tactics informed by their desire to syphon money from the State.

I am happy to announce that once more that our Courts have vindicated us once more and ordered that Tasima must immediately hand over the ENatis system.

We remain resilient, undeterred and resolute in our commitment to compel Tasima to comply with the Constitutional Court decision handed down that Tasima should hand-over the running of the eNaTis and associated services to the RTMC.

Our fight to reclaim the system is ever informed by the patriotism and supreme love to serve our country in ensuring that the RTMC undertakes their mandate to execute and discharge their function in the best interest of all South Africans.

I want to assure South Africans that in a similar circumstance that involved the production of driving licence cards, the Department of Transport is producing and managing the driving licence system in-house, without the involvement of a third party and the work has been diligently and successfully managed.

This is one illustration that government has the capacity, capabilities and dedicated men and women who are committed to serve the people of South Africa.

I thank you