26 AUGUST 1999
Colleagues and friends
I would like to thank you all very warmly for attending this Media Briefing for the new Parliamentary term. This is of course not just the start of a new session, but the start of a fresh five-year term of government. You will already have started getting used to the new faces in Cabinet - and re-focusing yourselves on old faces appearing in new positions. As one of those who has changed portfolios, let me return the compliment by recognising number of familiar faces amongst yourselves. Welcome back. I am delighted to be able to start sharing some of these with you as from today.
My immediate task is to build on the solid foundations left to me by my predecessors Minister Mac Maharaj. I have inherited a secure policy platform for transport in this country, together with a strategic action agenda which is the product of over two years of in-depth consultation between government and the industry. Together we will use these instruments to guide and channel the energies of the key economic actors in the transport sector. We will work together within a framework of co-ordinated planning to ensure that there is synergy between the facilitating and regulatory actions of all three spheres of government and the national economic choices of the many different players involved in the building of safe, efficient and people-orientated transport systems for South Africa.
You should all know from the very beginning that my Ministry and Department will be absolutely committed to the goal of delivery which our President and this government have defined for the coming years. Our mandate is to accelerate the delivery of a better life for all South Africans, particularly the poorest of the poor, and to build a truly united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society which will offer hope, opportunity and meaningful economic choices to its citizens, in an environment of improving safety and security for all.
In the transport context, this means making sure that government's institutional and regulatory actions mesh together the needs and demands of transport users with the best skills and capacities available in government and the business sector. Our goal is to create rational and responsive transport systems to enhance South Africa's export competitiveness and deliver mobility and opportunity to all of our people - and here again let me emphasise that this means making a real, tangible difference to the lives of those who have been most disadvantaged in our country: our rural communities, women, children, the old and the ill, and those with additional needs of one kind or another.
This means overcoming the spatial distortions of the apartheid past, opening up dynamic economic opportunity to previously disadvantaged entrepreneurs, and using our regulatory and enforcement powers rigorously to ensure both a level playing field for all participants in the industry and a secure environment within which to rebuild our communities and give new life to the values which bind us together as human beings - as mothers, daughters, fathers, sons.
In transport, then, we see future development unfolding within a framework of:
Let me give you some very clear ideas on what my major priorities and immediate areas of focus as Minister will be. I will begin with my priorities in the area of road traffic management, safety and security.
ROAD TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CORPORATION (RTMC)
Issue
The RTMC Act was proved by Parliament and printed in the Government Gazette during April 1999, to institutionalise co-operative Governance by pooling the powers the powers and resources of the national and provincial (and to a limited extent the local) levels of government.
Status
The co-operative governance system envisaged by the Act depends on the willingness of local, provincial and national government structures to pool their resources. The effectiveness with which these resources are shared will be pivotal to the success of the RTMC. It will be facilitated through the leadership provided by a Shareholders Committee consisting of the Minister of Transport, the MECs responsible for transport in each of the nine provinces and two members of SALGA.
Some of the key challenges facing the RTMC include:
The implementation strategy of the Act will be discussed at the next MINCOM meeting resulting in a national implementation plan. A key challenge to be overcome is the financing of the implementation design once it is agreed to by MINCOM.
ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUDICATION OF ROAD TRAFFIC OFFENCES (AARTO)
Issue
The current efficiency of the adjudication system for traffic offences leaves much to be desired. In general only about 25 percent fines are paid, with collection rates in some metropolitan areas as low as 9 percent. To this end therefore, the department sought and obtained Parliamentary approval of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act in Act in September 1998.
The purpose of the Act is to:
Status
The overall strategy and implementation options for the AARTO system will be discussed at the next MINCOM meeting. Particular attention will need to be paid to the issue of identifying the funding that will be required to kick-start AARTO, since the adjudication of road traffic offences is a new responsibility for the Department of Transport, for which it has not in the past had to make dedicated budgetary provision
LAW ENFORCEMENT MATTERS AND VIOLENCE
Issue
The upsurge in corruption with respect to motor vehicles is of great concern to this department and to government as a whole. Some of the areas where corruption is prevalent are motor vehicle registration and licensing, driver licensing and the general law enforcement environment. Road transport- related violence is also of major concern to the department.
Resolve
The department is committed to the eradication of weak law enforcement and violence. To this end, the department is already starting work - through its key consultative mechanism with provinces, MINCOM - on putting together a new structure and set of functional capacities that will create the required change. The responsibilities of this functional capacity will be executed through provincial and local government structures and will be exercised in conjunction with national policing authorities and other stakeholders involved in the national crime prevention effort.
In the long run, it is envisaged that the management and control of this effort will be located in the Road Traffic Management Corporation.
ARRIVE ALIVE
Issue
South Africa has one of the worst road traffic accident records in the world. The 1997 statistics indicate that approximately 10,000 people were killed and close to 50,000 were seriously injured (of whom 40 percent was pedestrians), at the cost of R12,8 billion to the economy. In 1997 my predecessor Mac Maharaj launched the Arrive Alive Road Safety Campaign as a first step towards the development of a systematic nation-wide strategy to combat the carnage on our roads. Arrive Alive was planned and introduced with the full support and co-operation of the provincial Ministers for Transport and Traffic and with intensive local government participation at the operational level.
This project has now entered its fourth phase, which commenced on 1 May 1999 and ends on 30 April 2000 The special target dates during this time will be the September/October and December/January holiday periods as well as Easter 2000. Once again we will be targeting the major offences leading to accidents: speed, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and driver and vehicle fitness.
The Arrive Alive project, despite the strength of its impact on the public imagination and its continuing success in steadily bringing down the road death toll, has not been without its problems. Scare resources continue to be a problem for a campaign of this scope ad complexity - both financial and in terms of the availability of adequately skilled and trained personnel at all levels of management and enforcement. In this regard, we gratefully acknowledge the continuing financial support of the Road Accident Fund and of the businesses which have helped fund various key communication activities and become involved in the campaign. We are confident that many of the management and enforcement co-ordination problems we have experienced will be resolved through the implementation of AARTO and the establishment of the Road Traffic Management Corporation.
For the 1998 year, the campaign achieved:
TOLL ROADS
Issue
The Department of Transport, through its agency, the South African National Roads Agencies, has embarked on the use of the build, operate and transfer process. Major reasons for the adoption of this approach are:
Current State
Total National Road Network is in the order of 7000 km (1350 km tolled, 5650 km un-tolled
Anticipated Future State
The plans of the Agency indicate that by the year 2000, the state-tolled network will be reduced to 600 km, with the concessioned routes being increased from 500 km to 1280 km due to the inclusion of the N3 toll road and the Platinum toll road. (400 km for the N3 and 380km for the Platinum toll road). In addition, 2000 km of the National Road network is being studied for further tolling
TAXI PROCESS
One of the major crises facing government when it took office in 1994 was the rampant violence in the taxi industry. This violence had its roots in the deregulation of the industry in the early 1980's and was fuelled by lack of effective enforcement and the absence of a strategic approach to the granting of permits. These two elements had combined to cause over-trading in the taxi market, and the formation of associations as powerful cartels to control taxi routes supported by armed mafias to enforce such control. The need for a sustainable solution to the ongoing crisis is underlined by the fact that, on an average day, 60% of public transport users make use of taxis. This fact makes the taxi industry the single most important sector of public transport from a customer perspective.
On taking office in 1994, my predecessor established the National Taxi Task Team, whose aim was to provide a democratic forum, fully representative of the industry, which would be capable of developing a long term partnership with Government to lay the foundations for sustainable and violence-free development of the industry. What emerged after three years of intense and at times extremely difficult consensus-building work involving exhaustive consultation with the industry (a total of 36 public hearings was held at venues across the country) was a set of recommendations which were finally agreed between industry and Government in the NTTTs Final Report of 1998. These recommendations and agreements can be summarised into three major categories:
Formalisation
In terms of this process, taxi associations are required to formally register with provincial taxi registrars. Registration is conditional upon member-operators being legal operators with permits and the association operating and managing its affairs in terms of a constitution which complies with the requirements as agreed and as set out in different provincial acts.
Regulation and Control
Under these provisions, operators are required to convert existing permits to permissions granted by provincial Permissions Boards. The requirements of a permission-based system change the obligations of operators substantially. In terms of the planned National Land Transport Transition Bill, permissions will only be issued in accordance with a basic transport plan called a "Permissions Strategy". In terms of this provision, all radius permits must be converted to route-specific permissions. The provisions deal in detail with matters such as stickers, marking and other customer-orientated conditions which have to be met in order to obtain a permission. Special provision is made for bona fide operators who have operated since before 1994 without a permit to become legal through a Special Legalisation Process.
Economic Assistance
The third leg of the taxi process is a programme of economic assistance by government to assist the industry to establish itself on a firm and sustainable business footing. The core element has been the national co-operatives pilot project programme in terms of which five provincial pilot co-operatives have been established with the assistance of the national department. These co-ops are with one exceptions still in the establishment phase, negotiating a range of deals with Banks, spares and similar providers as well as establishing retail facilities at taxi developments. Negotiations with the Department of Minerals and Energy have secured 36 licences for fuel retail installations to be made available to the taxi industry through the co-operatives.
Progress with regard to implementation of the above three programmes has been slow. As detailed in a report to Cabinet during May 1999, much of the implementation responsibility is that of provincial government, where significant resource and capacity constraints have been experienced. The Department is deeply involved in assisting provinces to speed up the implementation process.
Related to this programme is a further project - in joint committee with Departments of Trade and Industry, Minerals and Energy and Finance - to facilitate the recapitalisation of the taxi industry. Government has been aware since 1994 that vehicles were not being replaced by the industry. The Moving South Africa process did detailed research into this matter and determined that the average age of taxis in the national fleet was 9 years, 18 months away from full economic life. This signalled an impending crisis requiring urgent government intervention to secure a solution to head off the impending crisis. Terms of Reference for the inter-departmental project were adopted by Cabinet in May 1999 and work is progressing rapidly. A report and proposed programme for the recapitalisation process are due within weeks.
COMMUTER RAIL
Commuter rail in south Africa emerged around apartheid transport imperatives to deliver large numbers of black workers to employment centres in the metropolitan areas from the dormitory townships and displaced urban centres at the outskirts of the urban areas. Historically provided by the old Railways and Harbours (later SA Transport Services), with the conversion of SATS into Transnet in 1990, commuter rail was taken over by the newly created SA Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC). The SARCC own the assets including rolling-stock, with the operation of the trains provided on contract by Metrorail. Metrorail services have historically been funded on a deficit financing arrangement with some 30% of operating costs recovered from passenger fares, and government footing the bill for the other 70%. In the 1998/9 financial year this amounted to some R1,5 billion.
In the face of this inefficient situation, Government entered into negotiations with the SARCC, Metrorail and organised labour in terms of the National Framework Agreement on the restructuring of commuter rail in South Africa. In terms of the regulated competition policy, government adopted an approach where in the long-run commuter rail services would be subjected to private sector concessions on the Build-Operate-and-Transfer model (with or without linkages to further infrastructure development, as dictated by specific local circumstances).
For the first four years after adoption of the policy, it was agreed that Metrorail would be divisionalised out of Spoornet, and would enjoy a four-year "get-fit period" before full competitive concessioning would be implemented. In this period the operating arrangement between Metrorail and the SARCC would be on the basis of a concession-type negotiated agreement. This agreement is now finalised and has been put into operation. Final signature will be implemented once the negotiations on price and government subsidy are completed. The Department is currently in negotiations with the Department of Finance on this issue.
In this same four-year period, 10% of the network is to be concessioned as a demonstration project. This process has been the subject of negotiations and joint work between Government and Labour in the Commuter Rail Restructuring Committee (CRRC) as established in terms of the National Framework Agreement. Matters have moved rapidly in the past six months with two short-listed pilot project locations on the East Rand having been identified. A third option in Cape Town has been removed from the list because it is the "crown jewel" and is not appropriate for concessioning in the early stages. By agreement in the CRRC the two options will be subjected to a soft marketing exercise before a final decision is made on the exact structure of the concession. It is anticipated that the concession will be awarded by mid-2000.
In the course of negotiating the concession-type agreement - and informed by the analysis of MSA - it became clear that certain fundamental decisions would be necessary with regard to the role of rail in each and every corridor in the major urban centres. As a result the Department, in conjunction with the relevant Provinces and Metros, the SARCC and Metrorail, is conducting a detailed review of rail services in all regions with a view to rationalising rail into the corridors where it can be shown to be the optimal mode of transport. Arising from this, and in line with the Constitutional devolution of public transport, a restructuring project for the SARCC has also been initiated by the Department.
Bus Subsidies and Contracts
As with rail, the commuter bus system inherited from pre-1994 was built around apartheid transport imperatives. In this case the history in urban centres had been of bus operators identifying routes or being required to provide services, and applying for subsidies from the NDoT. In the former Bantustan areas, homeland governments established parastatal bus companies which were mainly deficit-subsidised, although some got the DoT worker subsidies on clip cards where they provided services into to the then South Africa. The result of this policy and subsidy system was that subsidies were targeted at weekly commuters who bought weekly clip cards, and no subsidy arrangement was the same in any region, with variations between the subsidy rate per passenger-kilometre varying massively from area to area.
Policy adopted in terms of the White Paper for the bus system was to convert to competitive tendering where operators would compete for the right to operate 5-year contracts on specified routes at specified service levels. In order to achieve this it was necessary to negotiate with the bus industry to convert the existing lifelong permits and related subsidy arrangements to ensure compliance with the new system. In the process, subsidised bus services would be rationalised to achieve better targeting of subsidies to the poor and very poor. This had the implication of a reduction in the short run of jobs before savings generated in the system could be redeployed to new services for previously under-served (or unserved) communities. This required a tripartite negotiation between government, bus operators and labour. The conclusion of this process is as follows:
1. All subsidised bus operations nation-wide have been converted to Interim Contracts for periods of between 1 and 3 years, after which such services would be converted to tendered contracts.
2. All services under interim contract have been put into a tender schedule for tender design and conversion which the provinces are responsible for implementing. To date some 13 services have been put out to tender. Delays are being experienced in the tender schedule due again to provincial capacity gaps in administering this new function. The department is currently working with provinces to assist them in capacity development and to reschedule processes.
3. In terms of the restructuring agreement with the industry and labour, the first round of tendered contracts requires that 75% of the required labour for the new service is sourced from the previous operator (excluding labour employment by the 10% specified outsource to BEE operators and sections of the service set-aside for the taxi industry). In addition R70 million saved in the last and the current financial year on bus subsidies is earmarked for the Industry Restructuring Fund, supplemented by a levy on the contract price to make up no more than 25% of the total severance costs arising from the industry restructuring process. The industry is responsible for the 50% balance of severance costs.
INTEGRATING PUBLIC TRANSPORT
The White Paper on National Transport Policy established key principles to bring the various restructuring processes together into an integrated and truly public transport system. These principles are:
1. That transport and land-use planning be integrated. This is necessary to ensure that the long distances and illogical spatial patterns of Apartheid are not perpetuated in a fashion which causes transport costs to rise in the long run. The national goal of urban densification therefore needs to be achieved in conjunction with proper transport planning.
2. That public transport service provision, particularly subsidised transport, must be provided on the basis of plans and in terms of regulated competition where operators would compete to provide services for limited periods of time. On-route competition will only be permitted where this can be shown to benefit the customer and create efficiency without leading to destructive competition.
The MSA process developed these principles further and clearly demonstrated that the critical problem in public transport (arising from poor land use) is low utilisation of capacity. As I indicated in my introductory remarks, the strategy to increase utilisation of capacity and improve service to the customer is a combination of densification around major transport corridors and nodes on the one hand, and the deployment of appropriate modes of transport in these corridors. This, linked to the restructuring of the industry, is the necessity prerequisite to breaking to breaking down the walls which exist between the rail, bus and taxi sectors. As such, government's strategy through programmes such as the taxi recapitalisation is to promote a non-mode-specific public transport industry in which the current operators of taxis take their rightful place as transport providers in the bus and rail sectors as well.
Underpinning this process is a coherent and integrated system of transport planning, appropriate institutional arrangements for transport management at local level, effective regulations for transport operations and a sustainable funding strategy. These elements have been brought together in draft legislation known as the National Land Transport Bill which has been through three years of difficult development.
In September 1998 it was agreed by MINCOM that the transitional aspects of the legislation should be separated out from the long-terms aspects and published as a National Land Transport Transition Bill to ensure the fact-tracking of planning, establishment of Transport Authorities at local level, and the appropriate regulation of taxis and buses. This Bill was published in January 1999 and has been through a further iteration in conjunction with Provinces and local authorities. A final Bill has now been prepared as mandated by MINCOM for tabling in the coming session of the new Parliament. This legislation is seen as urgent since further delays in its promulgation will lead to a clash with the local government demarcation and elections process, which would delay implementation of the key transitional aspects by a further two years.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT SUBSIDIES
The legacy of past public transport policy has been that government expenditure in public transport has been focused on operational subsidies. This has in many cases fed into the general decline in investment levels for public transport infrastructure. Our strategies for increasing efficiencies in public transport are designed to not only ensure that subsidies are more effectively targeted at those who require them most, but also to enable the bulk of expenditure to be shifted increasingly to support capital subsidies in line with government's overall strategy for the funding of utilities in general.
In this context, the main work of unwinding the public transport legacy has been carried out, and I have already indicated that the time has arrived to review Government's decision to live within the freeze on public transport subsidies imposed by the pre-1994 government. This matter is being explored in the Joint Technical Committee between Transport and Finance (the "Transport 4x4").
TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
The legacy inheritance of transport is perhaps most evident in the current state of our infrastructure and the critical issues to which this gives rise. As the transport network expanded and developed historically to meet the often contradictory pressures of transport policy in the past, the sheer scope of the total network became financially unsustainable. This meant that for several decades before the democratic transition investment levels in transport dropped significantly. The result was that by several decades before the democratic transition investment levels in transport dropped significantly. The result was that by 1996 infrastructure spending was at levels where only 40% of the necessary reinvestment was taking place in comparison with what is necessary to simply maintain the current size of the transport network in its current condition. In short, transport infrastructure is in a process of slow but sustained decline. With respect to clearly commercial infrastructure such as airports, we have moved the provision of such infrastructure onto a clearly commercial infrastructure such as airports, we have moved the provision of such infrastructure onto a clearly commercial footing and - where it can be cleared shown to be in the national interest - on the road to privatisation.
ROADS
In the area of road infrastructure, the creation of the National Roads Agency set the pace with respect to commercialising the environment within which road infrastructure is managed, making use of a proxy road user charge to created to create a user-pays relationship between the road user as customer and the provider of the infrastructure. National roads will continue to be developed by a wholly state-owned agency operating within this commercial context - at arms-length from government, but strategically overseen and regulated through the Memorandum of Understanding between the agency and myself, as Minister of Transport.
National roads, however, make up only some 7000 km of the network. Provincial and local roads are in a more serious state of decline. In many cases provincial and local roads departments are characterised by inefficient arrangements, spending as much as 60% of budget on overheads and salaries. MINCOM has resolved that the national and provincial roads authorities should cooperate to implement rationalisation and efficiency improvement programmes. The Northern Province and Eastern Cape have been selected as pilot projects assisted by the National Roads Agency. Legislation has already been tabled in the Northern province legislation to establish a provincial roads agency.
Since 1994 two further key initiatives have been taken with respect to road infrastructure in particular:
1. For roads where traffic volumes and customer affordability permit, PPPs have been initiated in a fashion where the private sector can finance, build and/or rehabilitate and operate roads on long-term concession. In this way the private sector bears the risk and recovers its investment through tolls. Government resources are freed up to fund other pressing transport priorities, and the taxpayer gets a road in good condition after expiry of the concession.
2. A detailed analysis has been initiated on the extent to which users are paying the full cost of road use. Analysis has shown that there is an effective subsidy enjoyed by the road freight sector since the total fuel and toll collection for this sector does not cover the costs of road provision and maintenance. In addition, this sector is not paying sufficiently for road damage, collision costs or environmental externalities caused by it. The Department is currently doing further detailed analysis to ensure that the user-pays principle of the White Paper is implemented effectively, and to ensure that the road versus rail debate is confronted.
SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC)
South Africa is signatory to the SADC protocol. The role of the department with respect to the SADC Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology is that of Country Co-ordination for the Transport sector. The scope of the Protocol includes all common policy, regulatory, institutional, operational, logistical, technical, commercial, administrative, financial and human resource issues. The specific transport sector objectives are:
HIV/AIDS
Transport and the HIV/AIDS epidemic have a complex relationship which requires our serious and urgent attention. Transport is often labelled as the "vector" of the epidemic, whether it is through people who move through transport, or transport workers, many of whose lifestyles, by the very nature of the industry, increases their risk of infection. In line with the Partnership Against AIDS, the Ministry of Transport initiated a campaign to tackle this issue head-on: both internally-within the NDOT and its stakeholders - and externally - within all the other key sector of the Transport industry. The short term aim is to make a dramatic impact at the educational and awareness levels, while at the same time implanting co-ordinated policies and structures which empower the industry both to combat the spread and manage the human consequences of the disease as effectively as possible in the medium to long term.
Starting in the road freight sector under the banner of "Trucking against AIDS", my Department has facilitated a partnership between government, employers and labour to tackle the issue in that industry. What has emerged is an energetic partnership which is taking the message to trucking companies and truckers around the entire country.
Building on this model, my department has recently begun to initiate similar processes in the ports and shipping, rail and aviation section. In all sectors we have sought to locate these projects within the structures representing both employers and employees, so as to ensure the sustainability of the campaigns.
Y2K PROJECT
Y2K compliance for the transport industry within the country is co-ordinated and led by the Department of Transport. Local government services and Eskom's power supply are obvious areas in which failure to achieve Y2K readiness could have a devastating impact not only on the delivery of essential services but also on the smooth flow of transport. The Department is currently being updated on progress by these institutions through the National Y2K Decision Support Centre, which is assigned by government to monitor and co-ordinate the country's Y2K strategy.
The Department is also involved in the SADC Y2K programme, and is closely monitoring member states' progress on the issue. Their Y2K readiness is of the essence in respect to regional transport services, whether by road, rail, air or sea.
Meanwhile, progress within South Africa has been good, with most sectors of the transport industry already geared to meet the target of Y2K compliance and contingency measures being put in place.
ROAD ACCIDENT FUND
The RAF, like its predecessors, is the instrument by which Government compensates victims of motor vehicle accidents (MVA's) on terms and conditions provided for in various Acts governing such compensation. It is a culmination of a series of historical developments spanning some 50 years, which began with the introduction of compulsory MVA insurance in 1942. Over the years a system of compensation developed which has been the subject of numerous commissions of enquiry and there have been many amendments to the governing Acts.
More recently, my predecessor published two Draft White Papers for public comment. During this period problems with existing compensation systems and suggested solutions have been aired extensively, in the Portfolio Committee on Transport, the Board of the RAF, the legal profession and a very wide range of role players and interested parties.
The process around the more recent attempts to fundamentally transform the Fund ran into political opposition from stakeholders, particularly sections of the legal profession. At this stage it was decided that a sustainable transformation process would require a wide supported process with a visible legitimacy beyond what had previously been achieved. For this reason a Presidential Commission of Enquiry is scheduled to begin operating shortly under the leadership of Judge Kathleen Satchwell, in terms of the RAF Commission Act, 1998 (Act No.71 of 1998).
The Commission's mandate is to enquire into, and to make recommendations on a system for the payment of compensation or benefits, or a combination of both, in the event of injury or death of persons in road accidents. It is required by statute to report to the President on these matters within 12 months.
Whilst the Commission is conducting its inquiry, a new management has been mandated to stabilise the fund under the existing arrangements and to ensure that a range of issues relating to efficiency, customer service and representivity are dealt with effectively.
In addition it is important to record that - following detailed information which provided evidence that certain groups of lawyers acting for accident victims had defrauded victims of portions or all of the claims paid out by the fund - my predecessor requested the President to issue a proclamation empowering the Heath Special Investigation Unit to investigate such lawyers and to recover any funds wrongfully appropriated from victims.
TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY (HUMAN RESOURCES)
In line with out programme for transformation, we have made great progress with the restructuring of the department, and have since January 1999 been engaged in creating a new ethos in the department. Crucial for us now is the need to inject a new corporate culture driven by contemporary business principles and the values of a learning organisation. Our core focal points, therefore, are Human Resource Development and Training initiatives - with an emphasis on career-pathing and multi-skilling of our officials - and Employment Equity compliance measures to enable us to fully address representativity issues and meet and maintain our targets. The first draft of a strategy for recruitment and selection of staff is due by no later than the end of August 1999, although we are already implementing new principles and structural arrangements (governing the appointment of new recruits and the promotion of existing staff members) which we feel are basically in line with the acceptable norms of government.
Running parallel to this new HRD vision is a commitment to revamp our strategy on communication, targeting both internal and external stakeholders. The design process for communication strategy is in the process of being closely aligned with our overall corporate strategy, with the emphasis on common goals, prioritised projects, carefully targeted audiences of customers and stakeholders and systematic co-ordination across the industry and with GCIS and national, provincial and local government.
GOVERNMENT MOTOR TRANSPORT
For the past five years the National Department of Transport has been focused on researching and adopting best practices from other countries in managing government motor transport towards competitive cost-saving measures, and pursuing the establishment of a common approach amongst the National Departments and Provincial Administrations. This process has since made tangible progress and a pilot project on the outsourcing of government motor transport, which was awarded through tender on 10 June 1999, is shortly to begin, as a public/private sector partnership to service five National Departments.
It is envisaged that an evaluation of progress made by Provinces would follow in due course. It should further be mentioned that as from 1st April 1999 the Department has been successful in implementing a new subsidised motor scheme. This was introduced as a means of getting the private sector to carry the financing and maintenance risk of the total vehicle fleet used by government officials, while on the other hand removing the burden of capital outlay from the fiscus.
The department is also committed to introducing a Vehicle Identification Technology within the next few months aiming at reducing fuel fraud and misuse in government vehicles. Already four provinces and the SANDF are ready to participate in this venture, which will be the first initiative of its kind in the history of South African government administration. Finally, acquisition of vehicles for Political Office Bearers above the level of Grade 2 is in the process of being standardised as directed by Cabinet. We expect this to be finalised within the next few days.
We have been successful in influencing the private sector on acquisition of contracts and especially on Public/Private Partnerships, in order to entrench the fundamental value system of government. Amongst other things, all vehicle manufacturing companies dealing with government are now required to commit themselves to skills transfer to government artisans and the use of SMMEs on minor repairs to government vehicles. They are also required to pay particular attention to rural areas where service points are lacking.
It has for some time been a requirement that businesses dealing with our Department or, where the need arises, at provincial and local level, should provide access to their information, expertise and offices as a matter of priority, with due regard to population density in the various areas of our country. In the coming period we aim to further improve the definition of these requirements. Government's approach to bringing on board SMMEs has been energetically implemented through the tender process for outsourcing of government vehicles, and will be further developed through the upcoming tender on Vehicle Information Technology, designed to provide cost-effective solutions to the problem of controlling vehicle fuel usage.
It is also envisaged that the same approach will be used when designing the new contract for vehicle risk management (insurance for government-subsidised vehicles) and that the department will adopt as a matter of principle a policy along these lines when dealing with all contract arrangements for its divisions. So that the best possible value is attained for public money, the policy will encompass performance evaluation of our business partners. Our departmental database will also be re-evaluated as a matter of urgency to assess the extent to which it properly reflects the demographics of the South African population.
RECENT SEA DISASTER
Issue:
The Palli HjaMariannu sank at approximately 16:30 on Saturday 24 July 1999, 60 nautical miles off the coast of Cape St Francis. This disaster resulted in the loss of 29 lives and the recovery of nine surviving seafarers.
Immediately upon notification of the incident of the incident, an intensive search and rescue mission was mounted, which eventually led to the rescue of nine survivors and the retrieval of 4 bodies. These efforts continued over a period of days, and were further extended, beyond the normal search and rescue time, in response to appeals from the families. In this last round of searching the last of the four bodies recovered was detected.
In the context of this appalling loss of life and grief to our seafaring community, I would like to make the following practical points:
Learning from the incident: