Issued by: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport
7 May 2002
AmaKhosi present
Members of National and Provincial Parliament present
Mayors and Councillors present
Members of the Diplomatic Corps present
SANDF Major-General Tshiki
Heads of Department (National and Provincial)
Members of the Taxi Associations present
Members of the Rural Road Transport Forums present
Members of the Community Road Safety Councils present
Members of the Vukuzakhe Association present
Department of Transport Senior Management present
Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media present
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
Welcome to the annual KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport Report Back Summit. These summits provide a valuable opportunity to keep the public of KwaZulu-Natal properly informed about the direction that government is taking and about developments that are specific to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport. The summits also provide an opportunity for you to voice your opinions and concerns - to praise the Department for its programmes that are going well and to criticise the Department for those programmes that are not meeting the objectives that that they were designed to meet - and, indeed, make suggestions as to how we could improve our services to the public.
It is usual at these summits that I, as the Minister responsible for providing direction to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, use this opportunity to outline my policy framework to achieve a more just and equitable society. Dr Mbanjwa, my Head of Department, will then deal with the nuts and bolts - or the rands and cents - of our MTEF and how policy frameworks will be implemented to become a social and economic reality.
Many of you will be aware that President Mbeki has dedicated each month to a specific development focus. The month of January was dedicated to education; February to safety and security; March to human rights and April to health. May has been dedicated to rural, urban and community development. Pre-conditions for development are access, energy and water. It is our responsibility as the Road Authority in KwaZulu-Natal to provide access.
We are well aware that without access communities are doomed to isolation and economic stagnation. However our commitment to provide the KwaZulu-Natal public goes beyond the provision of infrastructure. It includes a programme that is designed to transform the road construction and transport industry in KwaZulu-Natal to better reflect our demographic profile. This means that we are committed as a Department to go beyond being a service provider and to tackle head-on issues of Black economic empowerment and community development.
My address today will focus on government's concern to establish a Black economic identity. I will therefore provide an overview of government's and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's role in promoting Black economic empowerment and in supporting the growth and development of the small business sector.
President Mbeki will soon table the Black Economic Empowerment Bill which, we hope, will be legislated as an Act. The Black Economic Empowerment Bill is a result of the findings of a commission established by President Mbeki under the chairmanship of Mr Cyril Ramaphosa. The Black Economic Empowerment Commission has now released its final report and recommendations. Essentially the Black Economic Empowerment Bill is designed to make up for the shortcomings in our market economy in redistributing wealth more evenly and fairly. The Act will ensure that the Black majority are able to gain a more credible stake in our economy and this, we believe, will reinforce democracy in South Africa.
The Commission has made sweeping recommendations concerning procurement policies and government public investment strategies so as to fast track the deracialisation of South Africa's economy. Here it is worth reminding ourselves that, despite significant progress since 1994, the vast majority of South Africans still continue to be economically disadvantaged and their economic disadvantage does place them at a social disadvantage. The glaring economic inequalities within South Africa have been highlighted by a recent study conducted by the University of South Africa. Some statistical highlights of this study are:
I believe that everyone here today will agree with me that such imbalances in our economy are unacceptable. There can be no doubt that we need to create a new economic order and a new economic dispensation. I am therefore in full agreement with the main thrust of the Commission's findings which is that government must be prepared to actively intervene where market forces fail the majority.
Clearly, for democratic government in South Africa, the transformation from a racial economy to a represetative economy is a non negotiable. Political liberation and economic liberation must go hand in hand. As government we must go beyond the responsibility of acting as a regulatory body to one that intervenes to reverse our historical legacy so as to create an economic identity for previously disenfranchised population groups, especially the Black majority.
I am proud to stand before you today and claim publicly that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has, since 1994, systematically introduced measures that are consistent with the recommendations made by the Black Economic Empowerment Commission in 2001.
As MEC for Transport in KwaZulu-Natal I have always championed the view that it would prove impossible to deracialise South African society unless government committed itself to deracialising the South African economy. This can only be achieved by government introducing appropriate policies and regulations and allocating budgets that target Black economic empowerment. I have always championed the view that Black economic empowerment must be viewed within a targeted procurement framework which includes rural development and integration, urban renewal and integration, job creation, poverty alleviation, the empowerment of women, training and skills transfer and, most of all, access to the means of production.
For Black economic empowerment to succeed there must first be a deliberate strategy which implements a wide range of programmes designed to secure the meaningful and sustainable participation of the disadvantaged majority in the mainstream economy as owners, as shareholders, as managers and as employees. And at the community level Black economic empowerment means that services must be provided to previously under serviced areas and these services must be provided within reasonable timeframes that have been endorsed by the beneficiary communities.
Black economic empowerment is all about creating a Black economic identity. It is not about creating a Black elite that shares the economy with a White elite. It is about the Black majority becoming a credible stakeholder and shareholder in our total economy. We will never succeed as a nation in eradicating poverty unless we create opportunities for wealth among the poor. Central to the lasting eradication of poverty is the creation of a small business sector that creates sustainable jobs which increase the productivity of our country, especially in rural communities. This small business sector must necessarily reflect the economic empowerment of ordinary citizens and not just the upper echelon of society.
We will only become a truly free nation when we have achieved freedom from hunger, freedom from the daily struggle to survive and freedom to provide our children with education, with healthcare, with shelter and with hope. We will only become a truly free nation when we correct the glaring economic imbalances within our society and when the majority of citizens share in the wealth of our country.
Our annual summits provide a rare opportunity for collective self introspection. They provide an opportunity to reflect on just how far we have come in transforming a political vision - indeed a political mandate - into a plan of action. We need to honestly ask of ourselves and to ask of you:
In a nutshell then we need to ask the question: "Has the birth of a non racial, non sexist democracy in South Africa given rise to a non racial, non sexist transport and construction sector in KwaZulu-Natal?"
Master of Ceremonies, distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I would like now to answer that question.
The first litmus test for any portfolio minister concerns the percentage of budget that is spent on personnel versus the percentage of budget spent on services to the public.
It is well established that democratic government inherited bloated bureaucracies from the previous government. These bureaucracies were employed to fully service only a small proportion of the public. It has always been clear, therefore, that if government was to extend services to all of the public then it must first downsize - preferably right size - the public service sector. Downsizing involves a reduction in overall numbers of staff employed. Right sizing ensures that the staff employed are properly deployed and adequately skilled to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.
It is a matter of public record that since 1994 the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has systematically reduced its number of establishment posts to ensure that a higher proportion of our budget is spent on actual services to the public. It gives me pleasure to report to you that the proportion of the transport budget spent on personnel in the 2001/2002 financial year was only 27,8%. This is budgeted to drop to 27,1% this financial year and to drop even further to 24,3% by 2004/2005. Our performance compares very favourably with the provincial average which is expected to decline to 53,9% this financial year and to 51,2% by 2004/2005.
However, we have not just reduced our overhead costs. We have made tremendous progress in right sizing the Department. This is reflected in our organisational structures.
I need not remind you that in 1994 there was no department portfolio dedicated to deal with:
I am also pleased to report the considerable progress made in developing the skills of our staff so that they can achieve higher levels of productivity in service to the public. Our skills development programme extends from adult basic education (ABE) -this year 1 350 employees have registered as learners to obtain grade 9 level in literacy and numeracy -to the work of our technical training centre - which is now under the management of our T2 programme - and our bursary programme which issued just over 140 bursaries.
The right sizing of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has allowed us to provide the public with an improved service and now allows us, in this year's budget, to allocate additional funds to service delivery.
The budget for 2002/2003 financial year is presented in table form to allow comparison with previous budgets presented since 1999/2000.
SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURE AND ESTIMATES
VOTE 12 : TRANSPORT
NOTE: An additional budget allocation of R396 000 000 is made available by the National Department of Transport to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport for the payment of bus subsidies.
Road Infrastructure
Budget : R882 631 000
The passing of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Roads (Act 4 of 2001) last year provided the new legal framework that governs the construction and maintenance of the provincial road network in KwaZulu-Natal. Three key components that can be identified from this comprehensive Act are as follows:
The passing of the Act has therefore consolidated the many gains that have been made by my Department over the past few years and that have fundamentally transformed our service delivery systems as a Department.
Here it is important to announce that as from June 2002 Rural Road Transport Forums and Community Road Safety Councils, together with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, will systematically plan and workshop a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes a balanced provincial road network. The joint sittings of RRTFs and CRSCs will ensure that road infrastructure developments and road safety concerns are addressed simultaneously.
African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme (ARRUP)
In last year's budget I reported the intention to upgrade major transport corridors from gravel to blacktop so as to unlock the developmental potential of rural KwaZulu-Natal and begin reversing the apartheid legacy of uneven spatial development. The road projects that were identified to launch the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme were:
o Main Roads 235, 52 and 49 extending from Mtubatuba to Vryheid via Nongoma and from Nongoma to Pongola (105,3 kilometres):
These are rough gravel roads with above average maintenance needs due to the high traffic volumes in excess of 650 vehicles per day. It is an important corridor serving the development nodes of Nongoma and Hlabisa. Both these centres have hospitals serving large rural communities. It will be the only blacktop road serving an area of 2 500 km2 and will serve as an important tourist route linking the World Heritage destination of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Game Park and the cultural and historical sites associated with the Zulu Kingdom.
o Main Roads 15 and 50 extending from Kranskop to Nkandla and Eshowe (89,2 kilometres):
A network of rough gravel roads serving local communities and tourists. Attractions for tourists include the Nkandla forest and the grave of King Cetswayo. A surfaced road will kick-start the opening up of a large rural area with a massive backlog in infrastructure and proven high agricultural potential. The district of Nkandla has a land potential not dissimilar to that found around Cedara. Despite its good land potential its population lives in desperate poverty with a dependency ratio of 27 unemployed to 1 employed.
o Main Road 100 extending from Verulam to Inanda via Ndwedwe (41,5 kilometres):
A rough gravel road with high maintenance costs. Sections of road are carrying up to 1 100 vehicles per day. It serves a densely populated rural area on the outskirts of the Durban Metro area. Inanda has been earmarked for funding under the Urban Renewal programme. As you know, Inanda's rich history makes an important contribution to our African Renaissance programme in KwaZulu-Natal. The blacktopping of Main Road 100 will open up an area which has a rich potential for cultural tourism.
o Main Road 68 extending from Highflats to Umtentweni via Dweshula and St. Faiths (51,2 kilometres):
A rough gravel road with high maintenance costs due to the high traffic volume. Sections of road are carrying up to 1 200 vehicles per day. The road passes through the rural centre of St Faiths which has the only hospital in the district.
o Main Road 399 extending from Edendale to Taylors Halt via Nxamalala (12,2 kilometres):
A rough and dangerous gravel road serving as a major commuter route. The traffic composition is largely busses and taxis and the traffic volume is 500 vehicles per day.
o Main Road 296 extending from Osizweni to Buffalo Flats (R48,6 kilometres):
A rough gravel road with high maintenance costs due to the high traffic volume of up to 650 vehicles per day. It is an important commuter route serving the two major towns of Dundee and Newcastle.
All African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme projects would be designed to normalise the road construction industry in KwaZulu-Natal by creating opportunities for emerging and well-established contractors as well as newly established and well-established consultants. It was also envisaged that the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme would contribute towards nation building in that several of the road projects will provide all weather access to locations that are of significant relevance to the history of the Zulu Kingdom.
All ARRUP projects are now well advanced in the design phase and some are already under construction. Joint ventures between well established and recently established technical consulting firms have been contracted to oversee the design and supervision phases of the projects. The bottom line of each joint venture is to build on the capacity of newly established firms. Indeed, many of the contracts have been awarded in such a way that newly established technical consultants lead the joint venture agreement. The net result of bringing together old and new consultancies has been the creation of a remarkably innovative think tank.
Only last month I received a report on the designs for ARRUP projects. In all instances the designs have emphasised the creation of community assets that could be used after construction. Here are a few examples:
I think that all of us can appreciate that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is increasingly committed to a planning process that builds the relationship between Integrated Transport Planning and Integrated Development Planning. We are committed, as a Department, to promote participatory democracy and to promote co-operative good governance.
These design principals for ARRUP roads are already being implemented.
Further, all ARRUP projects have been designed to create maximum local opportunities including the supply of materials. A great deal of thought has gone into unbundling and rebundling contracts to ensure that the maximum Rand value circulates locally and does not leak out to large urban centres. Here we are mindful of the fact that the magnitude of investment in large road projects is such that it is unlikely to be repeated. Thus, for example, to spend some R202 million on a road from Mtubatuba to Nongoma and from Nongoma to Vryheid and Pongola. This is a once off opportunity for all of us and we dare not let it pass.
The approach in building these roads is to maximise local benefits.
Here it is important to emphasise that neither departmental personnel nor consultants work in isolation of community stakeholders. Project Liaison Committees which are representative of all major stakeholders, including Amakhosi and local government, are formed to oversee and contribute their knowledge towards the successful implementation of ARRUP. The ARRUP projects have rapidly become an important vehicle to realise co-operative governance and integrated rural development. Most projects are designed to last at least three years. In effect this means a concentration of technical personnel and plant in rural communities that can be cost efficiently utilised to plan and implement a new dispensation that goes beyond the delivery of road infrastructure.
I am proud to inform you that our ARRUP programme will also be used to intern S3 and S4 technician students who require two periods of six months practical training before they are allowed to graduate. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has a waiting list of 426 technical candidates who require an opportunity to do their practical training. Since 1999 some 60 students have been assisted in obtaining their practical training with the Department and of these 16 have been offered permanent employment in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport.
Vukuzakhe and Zibambele
Over and above the ARRUP Programme we will continue to expand our commitment to create entrepreneurial opportunities under our Vukuzakhe Staged Advancement emerging contractor programme.
We realise only too well that Vukuzakhe contractors are constrained in their performance because they lack access to finances as well as reliable and affordable plant. I am therefore pleased to announce that we have held constructive discussions with the African Contractors Finance Corporation with a view to establishing tripartite agreements between them, Vukuzakhe contractors and ourselves. Under this agreement financial credit will be advanced against the viability of a project / contract rather than the credit worthiness of any individual contractor. Those contractors that receive financial assistance through this financial scheme will also receive project management assistance to ensure that maximum profit margins are realised. We are hopeful that we will be able to negotiate discounted rates for all Vukuzakhe contracts, especially Stage 2, 3 and 4 contracts, and that we will be in a position to roll out this scheme within the next few months.
Although our plans to establish plant parks as a public /private partnership venture with Bell Equipment and Wesbank were delayed we now have approval from Treasury and our plans are back on track. We are grateful for the contribution that Treasury has made in ensuring that the plant parks are established with sound financial systems. Further, we have entered into discussions with various plant hire establishments and we are confident that these discussions will result in a more favourable dispensation to Vukuzakhe contractors.
I am also happy to announce that we have revised Vukuzakhe rates in line with the sharp market increases that have occurred in South Africa through the declining value of the rand against other major currencies and because the fuel price has increased by some 90% since 1994. Furthermore, we intend increasing the maximum contract value associated with each stage of the Vukuzakhe programme. We will keep you informed as to the Tender Board's response to our proposal.
While Dr Mbanjwa will announce the start up dates for training programmes, both to build the capacity of Vukuzakhe Associations and for skills transference to Vukuzakhe contractors, I would like to use this opportunity to thank Mr Pierre Swanepoel for his tremendous co-operation in working with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport to pilot 100 Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) learnerships under our Vukuzakhe programme.
The pilot phase of this project will be restricted to Stage 2, 3 and 4 Vukuzakhe contractors. Our intention here is not so much to train individual contractors but to systematically provide for the development of their business enterprises by accessing them to learnership opportunities offered by the 25 training authorities under the Sector Education Training Authority (SETA) programme which was recently launched by the passing of the Skills Development Act. This will ensure a more holistic approach to the development of Vukuzakhe enterprises and will guarantee their ability to compete and further develop in the market place. The programme will also ensure that Vukuzakhe employees develop appropriate skills to fast track their career paths in the construction industry. Dr Mbanjwa will provide more detailed information concerning the pilot CETA project and how this programme will be rolled out in all regions. However, I do understand that the concept was discussed with Vukuzakhe contractors in Region 1 only last week and that it was enthusiastically received. Again I would like to thank Mr Swanepoel for his commitment to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and the Vukuzakhe programme. We look forward to many years of developing innovative training interventions with CETA.
We are also committed to extending our Zibambele road maintenance contract system beyond the 10 000 contracts achieved last financial year to 14 000 contracts this financial year. A concerted effort will be made to organise Zibambele contractors into savings clubs to facilitate the cost efficient supervision and training of such a large number of contractors. A constitution has been prepared in consultation with Zibambele contractors and I am excited to announce that many Zibambele contractors have already moved beyond the stage of simply being employed and have, themselves, become employers. Clearly the organisation of Zibambele contractors into saving clubs will strengthen their role in rural enterprise development.
The Development Directorate will shortly be facilitating a workshop for all construction and maintenance superintendents and foremen. The workshop will outline a career path within the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport for labour intensive road construction and maintenance methodologies. While South Africa has a strong history of technical leadership in the engineering profession, we have not sufficiently focussed our attention on promoting labour intensive methodologies and associated career paths within the profession. This oversight must be corrected if we are to join other developing nations and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in pursuit of the common goal of placing rural economies on a labour absorptive growth path.
Our Zibambele, Vukuzakhe and ARRUP programmes provide irrefutable hard evidence to substantiate our claim in the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative that it is possible to put the rural economy on a labour absorptive growth path and to transform a nation of work seekers into a nation of work creators.
Public Transport
Budget: R19 778 000
We are well aware that the spatial planning that took place during apartheid as separate development resulted in communities having to travel long distances to workplaces and points of economic production. Such communities are vulnerable to increases in public transport costs. We are equally aware that despite the fact that National Government has allocated a total budget of R3 737 million in 2002/2003 in transport subsidies, the inherited focus on bus and rail subsidies results in only some 35% of the commuting public being subsidised. 65% of commuters have remained unsubsidised and it is these commuters that have borne the brunt of escalating transport costs.
While the current administration of the public transport subsidy system is restricted to busses, we are mindful of our obligation to meet the expressed needs of the public concerning their transport priorities. Our review of the public transport subsidy system must necessarily be based on integrated transport plans which undoubtedly will include the role of the taxi industry. I want to reiterate that we view the taxi industry as a vital component in the growth and development of KwaZulu-Natal.
This year the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport will administer a bus subsidy budget of R396 000 000.
Taxi Industry
The vast majority of KwaZulu-Natal's citizens are dependent on public transport to meet their daily mobility needs. The minibus taxi industry is undoubtedly the most critical pillar of our public transport sector in that it accounts for some 65% of the daily transport needs of the KwaZulu-Natal public. Not only is it the most accessible form of public transport, it is also the most affordable.
No-one will argue against the fact that the taxi industry has had a turbulent history. Equally no-one should argue against the fact that the taxi industry must have a bright future. Our role, as the transport authority, has been to regulate the taxi industry and, at the same time, to facilitate a dialogue with taxi leaders to identify and build towards that bright future.
I am pleased to report that of the 252 taxi associations in KwaZulu-Natal, 247 have been referred to the Local Road Transportation Board and new route based licences have been processed. On 24 April 2001 a fully representative Provincial Taxi Council was elected. This completed the democratisation process of the taxi industry in KwaZulu-Natal and I want to congratulate Mr Chris Ngiba, Chairperson of KWANATACO, as well as the members of the Executive Committee of KWANATACO on their election to office. These members have taken on an awesome responsibility. Their task is to represent the taxi industry in KwaZulu-Natal and ensure that it develops within a peaceful environment into an economic giant.
Government is committed to going beyond the regulation of the taxi industry to facilitating its growth and development in such a way that it can diversify its investment and income interests.
The taxi industry is vital to the economic growth of the country. The fact that the taxi industry is 99% owned and managed by Black South Africans makes it a critical pillar of any Black economic empowerment strategy, especially a strategy directed towards the empowerment of ordinary citizens.
Our economic empowerment initiatives within the taxi industry include:
Bus Subsidies
The National Department of Transport devolved the administration of KwaZulu-Natal's bus subsidy functions to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport in 1997. We inherited a public transport subsidy system which rewarded certain bus companies offering services on specified routes whether they travelled full or travelled empty. Such subsidies were, in truth, more subsidies to industry in that the routes subsidised and timetables of busses were more geared to the needs of industry than to the needs of the public. This is readily evident from the fact that bus subsidies were awarded to cover the labour pools of some economic centres in the province while ignoring the majority of small urban and rural areas. We have come a long way in overhauling the public transport subsidy system
and have introduced a new tender system which has broadened opportunities for new market entrants to receive subsidies.
Rural Mobility
In last year's budget speech I announced the intention to introduce a range of cargo tricycles to promote rural mobility and to lessen the burden on rural women who are required to carry heavy loads. The cargo tricycles would range from pedal power to petrol power. In the initial stages of the programme they were to be imported from China.
Further investigations into the licensing of the petrol powered cargo tricycle indicated that the legal requirements would involve a more complicated and prolonged process than originally envisaged. Further the customs duty on the motorised version is high and this introduced the alternative possibility of competitively manufacturing or assembling cargo tricycles locally. We have explored a wide range of options and have concluded that the public would be best served were we to capitalize on synergies with the National Department of Transport's Shova Kalula - scholar bicycle -programme.
This financial year rural mobility needs will receive a much needed boost through the launch of four pilot studies to introduce cargo tricycles. The pilot centres will be Newcastle, Vulindlela, Nkandla and Port Shepstone. The Department will roll out these pilot projects in partnership with Afribike who have been appointed by the National Department of Transport to oversee the Shova Kalula -scholar bicycle - programme. Afribike is developing prototypes of a cargo trike, velo taxi and vendor bike - all pedal powered -which will be field tested and then re-engineered to meet the climatic and topographic conditions of KwaZulu-Natal. We have also held promising talks with Afribike and potential Dutch investors with a view of establishing an appropriate bicycle / cargo tricycle production and assembly plant in KwaZulu-Natal. Our discussions are still at an embryonic stage. However, I can report that potential investors are more than willing to entertain equity partnerships with the Taxi Industry and Zibambele contractors.
The refinements to our original proposal to introduce cargo tricycles to rural KwaZulu-Natal will result in cheaper models which have been specifically engineered to meet our KwaZulu-Natal conditions. We anticipate that the revised project will create significant entrepreneurial and work opportunities in rural communities through a franchise system which combines local assembly and repair facilities. Should the negotiations to establish a production and assembly plant in KwaZulu-Natal prove successful, this will create wealth for equity partners.
Road Traffic and Road Safety
Budget: R180 831 000
The bulk of this budget goes to support enforcement programmes, which come under the banner of Zero Tolerance in KwaZulu-Natal. You are all familiar with our Zero Tolerance campaign and I need not take up time here elaborating on enforcement measures and our successes. However, we are disappointed in the delays in introducing AARTO which, we believe, is fundamental to streamlining road traffic enforcement. This legislation was first introduced in 1998 and was amended in 1999 and again in April 2000. We have therefore begun to explore the establishment of dedicated traffic courts in KwaZulu-Natal.
On 10 January 2002 my Head of Department, Dr K.B. Mbanjwa, met with senior personnel from the Road Traffic Inspectorate, the South African Police Services, the South African National Defence Force and the Director of Public Prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal, Adv. Mpshe, to discuss violence on our roads and security on provincial and national routes. The establishment of dedicated traffic courts was also discussed and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has undertaken to consider funding the establishment of selected traffic courts in co-operation with the Public Prosecutor's office. This, we believe, will streamline the adjudication of traffic offences and give teeth to our Zero Tolerance campaign.
We have also agreed to establish a new Special Operations Unit which will have powers to deal with a wide range of security concerns including taxi violence, fraud and corruption and public safety on our roads in general. The Special Operations Unit has completed the post evaluation process and the Department will be in a position to recruit staff within the next 2 weeks.
You are also very familiar with the work of our Road Safety Directorate and Asiphephe. I have been encouraged by the success of our combined Zero Tolerance and Asiphephe programmes in reducing the death toll and accident rate on our KwaZulu-Natal roads over the Easter holiday period. I am also encouraged by the development in various Asiphephe programmes to outsource critical community road safety awareness work to Zibambele-like contracts at the local level. I am referring here to a wide range of part time work activities, such as scholar patrols, that can be administered most cost efficiently and cost effectively by communities themselves. Not only will this create much needed employment it will also spread the gospel to all corners of KwaZulu-Natal that road safety is everyone's business. I understand that the Road Safety Directorate will workshop their business plans and programme priorities with Community Road Safety Councils.
I think that while everyone acknowledges that we are making progress in creating a safer road environment, we have a very long way to go. I have said over and over again that road safety is everyone's business. Let's show the world that we mean business. Let's meet on 19 May 2002 and let us collectively work to rid our roads of antisocial behaviour.
Conclusion
By way of conclusion I would like to emphasise that we will never achieve freedom from want in South Africa unless we dedicate ourselves to taking a collective step to build a more just and equitable society where all of us proudly proclaim our South African identity because we have all participated in building a truly free nation. The quest for freedom extends to those who have wealth, skills and privilege but who still need to liberate themselves, their companies and their industries to share their resources with those less fortunate. Real freedom means that as a nation we come together to build a better life for all - to build a prosperous society.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has used its budgets to create a regulatory environment to ensure equity in service delivery. At the same time we have intervened in the market economy to:
Our focus on promoting the SMME sector is informed by the fact that it is in this sector that most Black businesses are concentrated. The gains we have made have been substantial and broad based. They are not in any danger of being rolled back.
It has been no easy task.
The construction industry is considered the second most unequal sector in South Africa (with a GINI co-efficient of 0,438 it is second only to the agricultural sector). However, it carries the additional legacy of Bantu education into an industry that is dominated by science, mathematics and technology. Despite this we have made very considerable progress and we have undoubtedly put in place solid foundations that will allow us to move forward boldly to develop a representative industry in KwaZulu-Natal. We are now beginning to tackle the enormous challenge of fast tracking equity within the construction sector by implementing the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme and by developing innovative training methodologies and programmes which will allow us to overcome the digital divide.
Great progress has been made in regulating public transport and we are not far off from realising the vision of public access to safe and affordable public transport. In the process we are reviewing the way government subsidises public transport. Fundamental to this review is the need to respect the right of the public to choose their mode of transport and the window of opportunity that this now creates for Black economic empowerment within the public transport sector.
Finally, Mr Mandela concluded his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, by writing: "I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."
In KwaZulu-Natal we have many more hills to climb than most other provinces but climb them we will. That climb will be made easier if we all climb together.
Thank you.