Thursday, 13 april 2000
Chairperson, Comrade Penny Majodina
Members Of The Select Committee,
Colleagues From My Department,
Members Of The Media,
Ladies And Gentlemen.
The National Land Transport Transition Bill is a significant milestone on the road to the fundamental transformation of transport in our country. Its basic principles emanate from the White Paper On National Transport Policy which was adopted by cabinet in 1996 after 18 months of intensive consultation. Since the adoption of the white paper, my department, in partnership with our colleagues in provincial and local government have worked tirelessly in close consultation with stakeholders to bring this legislation before you.
As is the case with all transformation processes which are challenged with fundamentally changing the nature of society, this process has been long, difficult and characterised by intense negotiations about the trade-offs inherent to such processes. It was inevitable that the vested interests of the past systems would resist these changes.
But I am extremely happy that I am able to stand before you today and say that by keeping our eye on the fundamental issue – that of firstly meeting the basic transport needs of our people – the entire transport fraternity (users and customers, operators and government) are united behind this bill.
As I said, this bill will bring about the fundamental transformation of land transport in our country. It does so because the distorted and perverse legacy we have inherited from the past was failing to address not only the basic needs for transport, but also to energise and integrated our economy and our social fabric. By passing this legislation, this council will be laying the foundation stone of a new, integrated and needs-based approach to the planning, administration and management of land transport for our land.
In laying this foundation, the bill deals mainly with transitional matters and the first basic building-blocks of the new system we are in the process of creating. The full national transport policy cannot be implemented immediately due to the need to dovetail it with the new and proposed local government legislation. For this reason the bill is transitional and will be replaced by final legislation within the next few years. In so doing, it sets the scene for the long term restructuring of land transport systems. This bill is based on 5 pillars namely, appropriate institutional structures, planning, regulated competition and the restructuring of the modes, sustainable funding and law enforcement.
By providing for formalisation and regulation of the minibus taxi industry, the bill will be an invaluable tool to promote order and harmony in that industry. In so doing it provides the framework for this important sector to take its rightful place at the heart of our transport system. It is not insignificant that an industry, the largest black empowerment sector in the economy, and which emerged out of adversity and which today conveys 60% of our daily passengers, will through this bill be truly recognised for the first time for its role in our economy.
The significance is also that through this legislation we codify the regulatory environment within which the restructuring of the industry will occur. Important initiatives such as the taxi recapitalisation project will now have a clear and unambiguous environment within which to locate.
Except for planning and concessioning, commuter rail is not included in this bill. This is because on the issue of industry structure, government is locked into a number of processes which we should not pre-empt. You will be aware that this is a sector dominated by a single infrastructure provider and a single operator, both of which are state-owned enterprises. Accordingly, in terms of the national framework agreement government is committed to a process of piloting concessioning. A commuter rail institutional reform study is also currently on the go and as soon as it is finalised, detailed legislation in that regard will be published. It is also envisaged that legislation establishing a rail safety regulator will be tabled before you later this year.
The bill is divided into four chapters, namely:
Chapter 1, dealing with introductory matters.
Chapter 2, dealing with matters of national concern. It focuses on matters contemplated in section 146(2) of the constitution as setting national norms and standards and applying national land transport policy, and will take precedence over provincial laws dealing with similar matters chapter 2 will therefore apply in all provinces and cannot be amended or repealed by provincial legislation.
Chapter 3 deals with matters of provincial concern, and this chapter or sections thereof will apply in each province unless that province has its own legislation to replace it or parts of it. This chapter was drafted to act as stop-gap legislation until such time as all provinces have their own legislation which are fully complementary to chapter 2.
Chapter 4 deals with general matters such as law enforcement, and will apply uniformly in the provinces.
The passing of this bill is crucial as it will enable proper planning by local authorities, the establishment of appropriate institutional bodies such as transport authorities to which the total public transport function may be devolved, it will promote order and harmony in the public transport industry, and it will ensure greater involvement of commuters and communities in the various processes to be conducted.
Lastly, this bill will ensure uniformity between provinces by setting minimum norms and standards for public transport as required by the constitution.
Before I conclude, it would be appropriate for us to pause for a moment to remember and salute the many millions of our people who over the decades of colonial and apartheid rule took up the struggle on transport issues. We remember the bus boycotts of the 1940's and 1950's in alexandra township and other parts of our country under the slogan "Asinamali, Sifunamali".
We recall the boycotts of busses in the then Ciskei in the 1980's which led to the death of scores of our people at the hands of sebe's thugs. We recall the actions of the many commuters and transport workers as part of our resistance and struggle against apartheid. We remember these events and struggles not just because they were part of our struggle for freedom, but to remind us that our task today is to build a transport system which is about meeting needs, and not about using transport as an instrument of monopolisation or artificial social engineering. This bill therefore we must dedicate to those who suffered and died in struggle for affordable transport and against a system which sought to use transport as an instrument of oppression an exploitation. Chairperson, I would like to conclude by thanking you and the other members of the ncop for the lively debates and constant support on this bill.
Thank you.