Parktonian Hotel, Braamfontein Wednesday, 12 april 2000
Chairperson,
The Editor-In-Chief Of The Sowetan, Dr Agree Klaaste
The Ceo Of The Automobile Association of SA
Members Of The Media,
Distinguished Guests
Ladies And Gentlemen.
It is indeed with great honour to be here tonight at the launch of the lifestyle and leisure club. I have been informed that this club is targeted at sowetan readers and will place special emphasis on motoring and travel in South Africa. I think this is important because it brings people together and we, as a nation, are able to share our experiences and therefore empower, educate and inform others.
Chairperson I wish to pay homage to the empowering role Sowetan played and continue to play in the reconstruction and development of our society. Your role has empowered most of our people with information when it was needed the most. It is through this role that you continue to provide support and leadership to our learners, our businessmen and women, the elderly and to civil society as whole. Sowetan has been an umbilical cord linking our democratic government to the people.
Indeed we are a democracy, defined by and committed to the building of a non-racial and non-sexist South Africa. However, the process of democratisation of our society is part of the unfinished story which is a crucial element of transformation.
Part of the legacy of the autocratic past from which we have emerged is a reflex of habitual suspicion between government and media, and vice versa. From the point of view of the media it was right that this was so. It continues to be right for the media jealously to guard its autonomy and to carry out its duty to scrutinise government in all its aspects.
We know that this is (or should be) a creative tension, a necessary and creative friction. A government committed to the values of transparency and accountability will welcome this. Government knows that its five year mandate is not a blank cheque. We also know that our legitimacy must be recreated everyday through the sensitivity with which we attend to people's changing needs.
The media, too, is part of this complex constituency. But a very special part, with a very special power: that of creating for the people a set of images which continually reflects the complex realities of their changing lives. The media has not just a right, but a duty, if our democracy is to thrive, to provide the people with dependable information about government, to interpret that information, to analyse it, so that it becomes an empowering instrument for the people. This is what I think Sowetan should uncompromisingly strive to achieve.
The subject of my speech is not about the government and the media but on transport into the 21st century. What I have been requested to talk about this evening is what my department plans to do in the short-to-medium term to plan for the transport needs of this country in the future.
Transport is a key part of any serious discussion about the future. Because without an efficient and effective transport system there can only be marginal economic and social development. For a transport system that is geared for growth, we need a vision, a plan and an implementable strategy.
In our white paper, the department of transport recognised the vital role transport plays in our lives and embarked upon major programmes to restructure the industry and change the way it's managed. Our efforts have focused on improving the efficiency of the industry and enhancing our competitiveness, while at the same time meeting the needs of the people of our country. Several initiatives have already been implemented.
Functions such as roads, maritime and aviation safety as well as the issuing of cross-border permits were devolved to dedicated agencies. Other functions have already devolved to the provinces. These changes resulted in a much smaller department whose focus is on policy, strategic planning and regulation.
The restructuring and regulation of the taxi industry is well underway with the registration of all taxi associations complete and the due date for taxi operators to legalise their routes. Formal measures to further assist the industry through the establishment of co-operative are also implemented.
Proposals to restructure the debt-ridden motor accident fund were published in a white paper last month. This is the start of a process we hope will lead to the radical restructuring of this fund in order to serve accident victims better without increasing the debt burden on both the state and the taxpayer. A comprehensive road traffic management strategy to address our disastrous accident record is also being developed. The national traffic information system will be fully functional this year. We have set a goal to reduce the accident rate by 10 percent by the year 2000.
The first area of concern that needs to be address is institutional A clear strategy needs to be set for the roles of central government, provinces, local government, parastatals, agencies and the private sector in transport which would best meet the future needs of the country and facilitate our economic, social and transport goals. We also need to constitute a regulatory framework for the building, finance and operating of major infrastructure such as harbours. The second area is economic We need to examine the impact of developments, relevant to transport, in other sector of the economy, the region and the world. This will ensure that the transport system, its technology and infrastructure, meets our economic goals and growth objectives as well as the needs of its customers. We also need to measure our system's performance against international bench marks to ensure that we remain competitive. A system needs to be developed to determine the appropriate level of transport infrastructure for South Africa and to co-ordinate its provision. Appropriate regulatory mechanisms are also needed for economic pricing and to ensure for the full cost recovery of infrastructure and other services provided by the state. It will be important to establish a business environment appropriate for the provision of transport as market forces will regulate supply and demand. This will affect modal choices as well as the development of truly market-driven intermodalism. Achieving a logistics focus in the transportation industry in South Africa is important if we are to be competitive in terms of local, regional, and international transport activities. The project will determine strategies to enhance and speed up this process. The appropriate business environment, mentioned before, will be crucial in achieving this objective. Safety is always a crucial aspect. We need to determine the economic cost of safety and ensure that the technology used lowers the costs while improving safety levels. On the question of safety: I need not remind you of South Africa's atrocious road safety record. Despite many attempts to address this issue the carnage on our roads persists. A road safety board was set up to address this issue and also to advise the department on possible strategies that could be followed. However, this demands much more detailed attention and co-ordinated effort to make an impact on road safety. We need to identify the factors affecting South Africa's transportation system's safety record for all modes of transport and to identify technologies and means of improving safety in the system. In terms of social concerns: Given the urbanisation trends, we need to ensure that the transport needs of the urbanised as well as urbanising population are met. At the same time transport as well as infrastructure must be made available to rural communities. This, like so many other aspects, will out of necessity force government to determine the financial and social trade-offs as we will obviously not be able to afford everything. We need work out what types of cities we want and the appropriate transport systems. Transport planning and land use have to be integrated which could involve new institutional structures and policy. It is also important to identify the gaps in skills as well as the education, training and empowerment necessary to meet the needs of the transport industry and to formulate a strategy to meet these needs.
On the question of technology: Technologies need to be investigated to meet the transport needs for passengers, freight, trade and tourism. New systems and technologies need to be taken into account as well as whether specific South African technological development is required. We must also ensure that there is ongoing appropriate technological development and research to support the transport system in South Africa. The need for information resources to enable transport decision-makers, both in government and in the private sector, to make decisions. We also need to identify and determine was of rectifying gaps in information.
It's clear we have a long way to go in the transport industry. Short-term solutions will not necessarily be sustainable in the long-term. We need a holistic approach that is focused on the medium and long-term restructuring of the transport system. Only this approach will result in sustained benefits and the changes we need. We have achieved a lot in the six years since our first democratic government was elected. In transport we have made the building blocks for a competitive cost-driven industry. The process of developing a strategic transport plan will provide the cement. And in the process we will have positioned the transport industry to meet the continuous challenges facing us.
Thank you.