Question NW1587 to the Minister of Tourism
29 June 2016 - NW1587
Krumbock, Mr GR to ask the Minister of Tourism
With reference to the tourism signage that will be erected on major roads, which he referred to in the opening remarks of his budget speech on 3 May 2016, (a) what criteria will be adopted to determine how road signage will be (i) chosen and (ii) implemented, (b) which (i) departments and (ii) committees will participate in this process and (c) what are the envisaged (i) commencement and (ii) final completion dates of this programme?
Reply:
I would like to make the Honorable Member aware that in my speech I referred to the enhancement of signage and information at iconic national heritage sites rather than tourism signage on major roads.
However, with respect to signage on major roads, we have obtained the following information from the department of transport:
(a)(i) In terms of the National Road Traffic Act, N0. 93 of 1996 and its Regulations, various provincial and municipal authorities deicide on the erection of road traffic signs and tourism signage. The South African Road Traffic Signs Manual (SARTSM) and Southern African Development Community Road Traffic Signs Manual (SADCRTSM) also require that signage for tourism attractions be signed from the nearest numbered route and implemented.
South African Road Traffic Signs Manual (SARTSM) Volume 2, Chapter 4 gives guidance on Tourism Signage as well as the required committee structures which need to be put in place for the approval process. Part of the approval process is a site inspection to determine the safety of the access to the facility.
(ii) Once signs are approved by the committee structures they have to be manufactured according to the standards set by the SABS and erected at the approved sites.
(b)(i) – (ii) The processing of applications for tourism signs will be carried out by a Regional Tourism Liaison Committee (RTLC). Membership of the RTLC must include representatives of the Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO), the relevant road/provincial and/ or local authority for the region and the Local Tourism Organisation in the region.
With regard to the completion dates, I will refer to the completion of the iconic national heritage sites as follows:
(c) (i) (ii)
The committee structures as per SARTSM, Volume 2, Chapter 4 do not exist in all provinces or district municipalities. In the absence of such committees the relevant road authorities make the decision. Thus it is difficult to assign dates to the process as the functions of these committees as per SARTSM are ongoing since tourism facilities are continuously created/generated/produced.
However, in terms of the Department’s programme for tourism interpretative signage (which is not road signage) within the iconic national heritage sites, the date of commencement will be July 2016 for two iconic national heritage sites, and October 2016 for the next two iconic national heritage sites, with the final completion date envisaged for the end of December 2016 (as planned in the Department’s Annual Performance Plan for 2016/2017). This will be done through a Memorandum of Agreement with the management authorities of the sites. It is the management authorities who will be finally responsible for the implementation.
The management authority for the Nelson Mandela Capture Site, is the Apartheid Museum who manage the site on behalf of the Umgeni Municipality in KZN. The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) is the management authority for the Mandela Stature (Union Buildings) and Victor Verster (Western Cape) and for Freedom Park (Gauteng) the management authority is the Freedom Park Trust.