Question NW3375 to the Minister of Transport

Reply:

Roads Branch

In terms of the SCOA (Standard Charts of Accounts) guideline from National Treasury, Travel and subsistence includes items such as car rental, air transport, own transport, transport provided, food and beverages, incidental cost as well as special daily allowance cannot be excluded from this item because the official don’t only utilize their own transport as sometimes they would use air transport and then there would be transport provided for them at the airport.

(b) The budget and actual expenditure for the directorate on travel and accommodation for the financial year 2020/21, 2021/22 to 2022/2023 financial year is as per the tables below.

 

2020/21
Item	Budget	Expenditure
	R'000	R'000
Travel and Subsistence	180	176
Accommodation	78	78
Total	258	254
2021/22
Item	Budget	Expenditure
	R'000	R'000
Travel and Subsistence	585	413
Accommodation	320	83
Total	905	496
2022/23
Item	Budget	Expenditure
	R'000	R'000
Travel and Subsistence	625	744
Accommodation	300	231
Total	925	975

South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA)

a) The budget allocation for the financial year(s) 2019 – 2023 is detailed as follows:

2019 – 2020 = R4 435 000.00

2020 – 2021 = R3 990 000.00

2021 – 2022 = R5 833 000.00

2022 – 2023 = R5 681 000.00

2023 – 2024 = R5 695 000.00

b) The actual expenditure with regards to travel and accommodation is broken down as follows:

 

Item Descriptions (Per Sub-Programme / Directorate in that particular FY)	An allocated funds per annum
T&S DOM: Accommodation	R 90 000
T&S DOM: Special Daily Allowance	R20 000
T&S DOM: Food & Beverages	R5 000
T&S DOM: Incidental Cost	R12 000
T&S DOM: Car Rental	R22 000
T&S DOM: Km All (Own Transport)	R17 000
T&S DOM: Km Allowance SMS	R68 000
T&S DOM: Air Transport	R250 000
T&S DOM: Road Transport	R50 000
T&S Foreign: Accommodation	R 70 000
T&S Foreign: Daily Allowance	R25 000
T&S Foreign: Food & Beverages	R20 000
T&S Foreign: Incidental Cost	R15 000
T&S Foreign: Air Transport	R120 000

The above budget allocation details expenditure per item(s). However, the (budget) allocations also cover items such as the Car rental, Incidental cost, Daily allowance, Foreign transport etc. Air transport usually devours the chunk of the money because ninety percent of maritime business is in the coastal provinces.

Be that as it may, when an accident happens, the Maritime Transport Branch /Department of Transport (DoT) refer South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) to the accident scene for investigation. SAMSA is a South African government agency established on 1 April 1998 as a result of the 1998 South African Maritime Safety Authority Act 5. It is in effect the governing authority and as such is required to investigate maritime accidents/incidents & to provide various marine related services both on behalf of Government as well as to Government.

SAMSA would compile a report of the findings that explains in details the cause of the accident and submit it to the DoT. The Executive Authority will then appoint a Court of Marine Enquiry (CoME) in terms of Section 267(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act. The CoME shall consist of the Presiding Officer, Panel Members (a knowledgeable legal committee) and the Clerks of the CoME to further investigate the circumstances that caused the accident.

There is an approved budget allocation for the CoME every financial year to take care of such unfortunate occurrences. The current budget allocation is R924 000.00. This budget is earmarked for the payment of the allowances (remuneration) of the Presiding Officer and other Panel Members in terms of Treasury Regulations 20.2.

South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACCA)

Local Travel

1. Budget: R 43 7401.56
2. Actual Expenditure: R 73 332.40

International travel

1. Budget: R 251 062.80
2. Actual Expenditure: R 219 591.71

The number of reported accidents was 98.

FY 2020/21

1. Budget: R 23,742.26 (budget reduction due to COVID-19)
2. Actual Expenditure: R 125,947.29

International travel

1. Budget: Nil
2. Actual Expenditure: Nil

The number of reported accidents was 97.

FY 2021/22

Local Travel

1. Budget: R 397 274.04
2. Actual Expenditure: R 161 080.04

International travel

1. Budget: R 118 718.40
2. Actual Expenditure: Nil

The number of reported accidents was 165 (including RPAS accidents)

FY 2022/23

Local Travel

1. Budget: R 552 360.24
2. Actual Expenditure: R 195 939.18

International travel

1. Budget: R 106 088.76
2. Actual Expenditure: R 62 819.00

The number of reported accidents was 141 (including RPAS accidents)

FY 2023/24

Local Travel

1. Budget: R 264 970,00
2. Actual Expenditure (YTD): R 77 221, 58

International travel

1. Budget: R 110 400,00
2. Actual Expenditure: R 73 600,00

The number of reported accidents is 75.

Notes and Variables:

These costs cover bookings for flights (economy class), accommodation (3-star rating), car hire and subsistence allowance.

Please note upon receipt of an accident notification, AIID will categorize the accident and at that point make a decision to dispatch or not dispatch investigators to the scene. AIID at times undertakes desktop investigations.

The scope, complexity and location of the investigation determines:

• The number of employees to be dispatched,
• The number of days on-site and
• The need for a follow-up investigation.

Rail Branch

There was no (i) travel or (ii) accommodation expenditure incurred by employees from the Rail Transport Branch.

There were no train accidents that needed officials from the Rail Transport Branch to attend from 1 January 2020 to 1 April 2023.

The country entered Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, with no train services provided, and to date, with limited services provided, no rail accidents occurred.

Public Transport Branch

Official for the Public Transport branch don’t conduct accident scene visits and therefore the branch not incur any expenditure in this regard