Hansard: Approppriation Bill: Debate on Vote No 37 - Transport
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 24 Apr 2012
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Take: 363
START OF DAY
WEDNESDAY, 25 APRIL 2012
PROCEEDINGS OF EXTENDED PUBLIC COMMITTEE – CHAMBER OF THE OLD ASSEMBLY
Members of the Extended Public Committee met in the Old Assembly Chamber at 14:02.
The House Chairperson, Mr C T Frolick, as Chairperson, took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 37-Transport:
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT (Mr J S Ndebele): Chairperson of this honourable House, Chairperson of the Transport Portfolio Committee, Ms Ruth Bhengu, hon members of the committee, Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr Jeremy Cronin, Director-General of Transport, Mr Mahlalela, Road and Transport MECs and heads of department from our provinces, transport sector stakeholders present here today, members of the media, distinguished guests, it is a great honour and privilege for me to once again stand here to deliver to you another Budget Vote for the Department of Transport.
The overall budget allocation for the Department of Transport for the 2012-13 financial year totals R39 billion, growing to R48 billion in 2014-15. The bulk of this allocation goes to the following items: R10 billion is set aside for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, of which R5 billion goes into the acquisition of new rolling stock. An amount of R18 billion is allocated for roads, of which R8,8 billion is set aside for the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, and another R8,7 billion for the S'hamba Sonke programme. A total of R10 billion is allocated to public transport, R5 billion of which goes to bus subsidies. The remaining R5 billion is earmarked for projects related to the bus rapid transit, BRT, system and the Taxi Recapitalisation programme, TRP.
Over the past few years, the Department of Transport has embarked on a concerted effort to develop and improve South Africa's transport system to serve as a catalyst for socioeconomic development, particularly the movement of goods and people. Our efforts have seen a meteoric increase in the provision of a safe, reliable, efficient and affordable transport system. I should also acknowledge, however, that we still have a lot of work to do before we can safely say our people are living the transport dream. In his state of the nation address, President Jacob Zuma said:
The country's socioeconomic development can be improved and realised through a sustained, massive infrastructure development programme spearheaded by a developmental state in partnership with an active citizenry and private sector.
Through the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, a 10-year project plan was developed, and five-year priorities based on the following development principles were identified: balancing the development of new infrastructure with the maintenance of existing infrastructure; improving infrastructure links with rural and poor provinces; addressing capacity constraints and improving co-ordination and integration; and scaling up investment in infrastructure. Four key sectors have been identified as central to the envisaged development. These are transport, water and sanitation, energy and communication.
Six strategic infrastructure projects have been identified, namely: unlocking the northern mineral belt with the Waterberg as the catalyst; the Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor; south-eastern node and corridor development; unlocking the economic opportunities in the North West province; the Saldanha-Northern Cape development corridor; and integrated municipal infrastructure projects.
Whilst all these strategic infrastructure projects have transport as providing corridor linkages, the Durban-Johannesburg and North West are principally transport related. The PICC framework gives us a blueprint of transport projects over the next few years in the spheres of roads, rail and public transport infrastructure development and services. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to announce key transport projects to be rolled out over the next five years.
Projects in the Durban-Johannesburg corridor include the sale of Durban International Airport to Transnet for the establishment of a dig-out port; the development of Cato Ridge as a dry port; the planned extension of commuter rail to reach Pietermaritzburg; the development of Harrismith as a logistics hub; Gauteng logistics hubs, including Tambo Springs, Central Rand and the improvement of City Deep.
We have emphasised the importance of getting the balance right between freight and passenger services. Indeed, there is no doubt that without freight logistics, the country would grind to a halt. The 2050 vision forms the backbone of South Africa's freight transportation network and is vital in facilitating economic growth for the country and the Southern African region. Its major objective is to deal with infrastructure and operational planning and investment, as well as demand forecasting over a 50-year horizon.
The following are the project developmental components: the Port of Durban; the Durban–Gauteng road corridor; the Durban-Gauteng rail corridor, including high speed rail; logistics hubs and terminals within the corridor, as well as supportive, local area land-use plans. Some of the other national projects include: national road infrastructure development projects; the acquisition of new rolling stock by Prasa; and the transformation of the public transport system.
Balanced investment in transport infrastructure will lead the country to efficient and sustainable growth, mobility and community access. We are now entering an interesting phase of transport integration, road-based logistics, ports, roads, aviation and rail, and the safety and security of transport services and infrastructure. We base all these plans on sophisticated intermodal planning, efficient intermodal transfer facilities, and streamlined institutional and intergovernmental arrangements for implementation.
We are presenting our budget speech five days before the implementation of the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, GFIP. [Interjections.] South Africa is estimated to have about 9,7 million vehicles. About 2,5 million of these are said to be in Gauteng. Of these 2,5 million, only 800 000 travel regularly on the tolled road that accounts for 185km of South Africa's overall 750 000km of road network. The GFIP e-tolling project was premised only on this 800 000 vehicle population, and not on all 9,7 million vehicles nationwide.
The fact is we cannot expect Mr Papiyana in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape to finance the construction or upgrading of a road regularly used by Mr Ponto in Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. We are therefore encouraged that, so far, 501 245 e-tags have been sold and distributed to regular users of this road network, a clear indication that people are co-operating with us ... [Interjections.] ... 501 000 out of 800 000. [Interjections.] We encourage those who have yet to purchase their e-tags to do so in order to be eligible for the discounted tariffs announced by government in February this year.
It is also important to note some people who reside in Gauteng will still not be affected by the introduction of e-tolling. E-tolling, by the way, is an electronic collection. That is all we are talking about.
An HON MEMBER: An expensive one! [Interjections.]
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT (Mr J S Ndebele): It is fine. [Interjections.] Yes, for which you all voted! [Laughter.] [Applause.]
For instance, a teacher who resides and works in Soweto, who never travels on the tolled road network need not be concerned, as he does not utilise the road on a regular basis like someone who resides in Pretoria but works in Johannesburg. [Interjections.] Once-off users are encouraged to contact the Sanral call centre to get day passes that will qualify them for discounted tariffs should they wish to travel on the tolled road network.
We also have a responsibility as a country to service the debt incurred when the GFIP was implemented to improve the road network in question. It is now public knowledge that South Africa has a financial obligation of R20 billion to this effect, escalating to R32 billion, with interest, over the next couple of years.
Failure to honour this obligation will adversely affect our country's credit rating. Just yesterday, the world woke up to the news that Argentina's credit rating has been downgraded. South Africa is no exception to this possibility should we fail to honour our commitments. This is important to note, particularly because, as a country, we borrow at least R10 billion a week to service our budget deficit and state debt and to meet the financial obligations of state-owned companies. This includes the payment of Members of Parliament. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
We would like to thank the people of Gauteng for their co-operation as we move towards the implementation of this critical project. We extend similar gratitude to the Premier of Gauteng, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane, and the provincial government for the leadership displayed during our discussions on this matter over the past few months. We have learned very valuable lessons from this process.
It is also important to remember that the implementation of the project was postponed on two occasions. The first postponement was in March 2011, after various stakeholders raised concerns. The postponement was intended to allow for further consultation to take place. A steering committee was then established, which recommended to Cabinet a comprehensive discount regime. This included the zero rating of public transport vehicles, specifically taxis.
I wish to take this opportunity to re-emphasise that no public transport vehicle will be expected to pay e-tolling tariffs. They are exempted because we believe users of public transport are, in the main, people in the low-income bracket, and we are committed to safe, affordable and efficient transport.
The second postponement was in February this year. That eventually led to the National Treasury setting aside R5,8 billion for the project. This intervention resulted in a further reduction of tariffs, therefore further alleviating the financial burden on the consumer. All these concessions were made in response to the concerns raised by the public, indicating that we are a caring government that is willing and able to listen to its citizens, while taking a national perspective, not just from one road.
Roads play a critical role in the movement of passengers and goods in the country. A large percentage of people are dependent on roads for many reasons. All sectors of the economy depend on roads to transport goods to all corners of South Africa. The majority of goods is transported by road and furthermore, forecasts reveal that freight transport demand will grow by between 200% and 250% over the next twenty years.
The SA Roads Federation estimates that the failure of the road network, both in condition and its ability to cope with increased demand, imposes an estimated additional R20 billion in wear and tear. For rural communities, the very poor state of many municipal access roads, including unproclaimed roads, has contributed to soaring vehicle operating costs and more significantly, has hampered the ability of communities to access services in key health and education sectors.
South Africa has a total road network of 750 000km, of which 17 000km is managed by Sanral. The total annual maintenance requirement for the South African road network is R88 billion. The total allocation from Treasury in the 2012-13 financial year for roads is R38 billion, leaving us with a shortfall of R43 billion. The situation is further compounded by exchange rate fluctuations and fuel price volatility that has an impact on the bitumen price – an important input in road construction.
For municipalities, just as in provinces, equitable share allocations and own revenues constitute a pool of funds from which municipalities are able to finance their road infrastructure. Some of the major projects being undertaken by Sanral include: the R341 million Sitebe Komkhulu-Viedgesville road on the N2 in the Eastern Cape; the R42 million Harrismith–Kestell road; the R64 million Durban North Coast interchange project; the R147 million Ventersburg–Kroonstad road project; and the R51 million Mhloti–Tongaat toll plaza project.
We need to focus on the following areas: the Road Maintenance Fund; rural development through rural road infrastructure; job creation; ensuring rural transport; and skills development.
The S'hamba Sonke road maintenance programme was launched in April 2011. For the first time in the history of this country, this entire amount is ring-fenced for the maintenance of roads. For the 2012-13 financial year, the money is allocated as follows: KwaZulu-Natal, R1,2 billion; the Eastern Cape, R1 billion; Mpumalanga, R1 billion; Limpopo, R934 million; Gauteng, R566 million; the Free State, R447 million; the Western Cape, R411 million; the Northern Cape, R308 million and North West, R501 million.
Road safety is one issue where all South Africans share a unity of purpose. It is a problem that affects everyone, regardless of colour, gender, or beliefs. We agree that we all have a common responsibility to ensure that our roads are safer. We are confident that we are on the right path. We are encouraged by the significant reduction in road fatalities recorded over the recent Easter long weekend. Although we remain concerned about the lives we continue to lose on our roads, we believe that a reduction from last year's Easter death toll from 297 to 181 this year is worth noting. This means our strategies are relevant in addressing the challenges we face on our roads.
I wish to convey my sincere congratulations to all MECs who work tirelessly to ensure that we are safe on our roads. My gratitude also goes to our traffic law enforcement agencies at all levels for their sterling work. We also thank the Police Service and emergency services for their partnership in ensuring that our roads are not turned into killing fields. We will continue with our educational and policing activities throughout the year to ensure a culture of voluntary compliance with the rules of the road. We note that it is indeed not government Ministers or government who drive 9,7 million cars.
We encourage everyone to become a friend of the Decade of Action for Road Safety. This is a United Nations programme. You can do this by becoming a member of the Road Safety Council in your community, ensuring that you take ownership of the streets and roads in your neighbourhood. We also urge you to wear the Decade of Action tag – this is one tag you should wear - as a symbol of your commitment to safer roads. Our guests are donning this tag today and we encourage them to keep it on. Wear it, believe in it and act on it!
We will continue to seek lasting partnerships with the private sector as we explore various ways of addressing road carnage. We should thank the corporate partners who have been working with us on a number of campaigns aimed at saving lives, such as I-Pledge with Imperial Holdings; Think Pedestrian with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, the United Nations and Equestria Fleet; and our partners in road safety activations, such as Pick 'n Pay and Netcare 911. They are present with us here today. Sithi nangomuso! [Let us continue in this fashion!] [Applause.]
The Road Accident Fund, RAF, needs to be financially resourced to carry out its mandate on victims of traffic accidents. Just yesterday, we were in Mitchells Plain where the Road Accident Fund took services to the community in that area. A total of 22 claims were settled on the spot, with the highest individual payment being R915 000. The total amount paid out to claimants during the two-day campaign was R3,1 million. We also handed over wheelchairs to members of that community. One of the recipients is a man who got involved in a car crash 17 years ago. I am glad to announce that he has not allowed this unfortunate situation to kill his spirit.
The battle against increased road traffic fatal crashes has to be won. The Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, will intensify efforts to reduce accidents by half by 2020, as part of the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety.
The Moloto Rail Development Corridor is on the cards and a steering committee is working on this. Regarding public transport, the mass rapid public transport network, which includes rail, taxi and bus services, is on course.
Regarding the Taxi Recapitalisation programme, as government, we have taken the broader approach which will press upon the financial services industry to create affordable facilities; support the industry; develop a post-TRP vehicle replacement model; and design public transport contracts.
A transport ministerial meeting with MECs that took place last week in Johannesburg resolved on opting for negotiated contracts as far as buses are concerned; establishing a steering committee comprising national and provincial governments; and finishing these negotiations by September of this year, so that the uncertainty that exists in the bus industry is done away with.
Regarding maritime transport, we are dealing with transshipment; coastal shipping; ship registration in South Africa; and skills development.
On aviation, we want to congratulate the Airports Company South Africa, Acsa, for having been awarded a contract to build an airport in São Paolo, Brazil, in preparation for the 2014 Fifa Soccer World Cup. [Applause.] That is the transfer of skills.
I wish to thank the portfolio committee under Ms Ruth Bhengu. I wish to thank the Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr Jeremy Cronin, for working the way that we work in taking this department forward. I also thank the director-general, George Mahlalela, and his very hardworking and dedicated team for keeping the ship afloat, even in challenging times. We have overcome the odds, and outdone ourselves: people thought that BRT would be the end. They think e-tolling ... We have this team, this wonderful team. [Applause.]
To the transport sector, thank you for your continued support. Working together we can ensure that South Africa realises and lives the transport dream.
Chairperson, I want to thank you, and present this Budget for approval by this House. Thank you very much. [Applause.] [Time expired.]
Ms N R BHENGU /Robyn/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 364 & 365
"Old Assembly Main", Unrevised Hansard,30 Apr 2012,"Take 364 [Old Assembly Main].doc"
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT
Ms N R BHENGU: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, hon Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, the ANC supports the budget. [Applause.] We congratulate the Department of Transport for receiving an unqualified audit report for the fifth consecutive time.
We provide oversight on 12 transport entities. Ten of them received clean audit reports and we are proud of that. The Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, received an adverse audit report and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, RTIA, received a disclaimer. We have engaged with our ailing transport entities to try and understand – listen, hon De Freitas - the root causes of their situation, so that we can work together with them in finding solutions, instead of dealing with the symptoms of the challenges.
We are happy to report that it is possible to turn this situation around and have all our entities receiving clean audit reports. We have identified the National Land Transport Act of 2009, the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences, Aarto, Act of 1998 and the Road Traffic Management Act of 1998 as the root causes of the challenges that both RTMC and RTIA experience in the process of implementing their mandates and Aarto, in particular. We deal with the root causes not the symptoms.
The Portfolio Committee on Transport and the Department of Transport concur with both RTMC and RTIA on the need to amend these three pieces of legislation and create a conducive environment for these entities to execute their mandate effectively.
I have been tasked by the ANC study group on transport to speak about the connection between transport and community development and how that relates to sustainable development processes as a central pillar for building a developmental state. I am going to focus on three modes of transport; that is roads, rail and maritime.
The transformation process began in 1994 when the ANC-led government took over power and inherited a disintegrated transport system designed along apartheid land use and settlement patterns. We inherited a decaying transport system not designed to serve the developmental needs of the country. Transportation of goods, over and above transportation of people, was prioritised. Railway lines were linked to townships and hostels, in order to transport people from these areas to industrial parks in big cities. Passenger trains were scheduled to bring workers to cities in the morning and take them back to far away townships and hostels in the afternoon. The railway technology we inherited was designed in the 1950s. The apartheid government had last invested in railway lines in the 1950s. Train coaches were last purchased 33 years ago.
In 1993, at the dawn of our democracy, the then South African government decided to sell a fleet of 57 ships resulting in a South Africa that does not participate in the maritime transportation, yet it has the longest coastline in the African continent and owns sea land that is three times the size of South Africa. [Applause.] What I have covered relates to a transport system that is not strategically positioned to develop communities.
Since 1994, we have started with the process of transformation and have managed to turn the situation around. We established a number of transport entities and continue to position the Department of Transport central to unlocking the developmental potential of underdeveloped communities on one hand, and further growth of developed communities on the other.
We want to single out three transport entities to illustrate how transport can affect social and economic development if used for purposes of community development. These are the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Prasa, the SA Maritime Safety Authority, Samsa, and the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral. The Passenger Rail Agency of SA and Samsa have gained a better understanding of the connection between transport and community development, while on the other hand Sanral is lagging behind.
The SA Maritime Safety Authority is mandated to provide safety services to our seas and ships that use our seas. We spend R37 billion per annum on that. The chief executive officer of Samsa has used the investment on maritime studies made on him by the ANC - he is actually a cadre – to think out of the box and develop a maritime development strategy. [Applause.] That strategy has a potential of creating 405 000 jobs in the maritime industry between 2012 and 2022.
The maritime industry development strategy developed by Samsa creates opportunities for the reopening of the shipyards and building of ships in South Africa. It is a strategy that would focus on both the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training on maritime studies, in order to produce skills required to take advantage of the 405 000 jobs in the maritime industry.
The ANC supports this line of thinking, as well as the efforts made by Samsa in raising the awareness of the political leadership on all economic opportunities in maritime industry and the potential this country has. The maritime industry development strategy demonstrates the connection between transport and community development. The ANC will use its influence and its majority in the portfolio committee and Parliament to have this strategy adopted.
In the state on the nation address, the President, Mr Jacob Zuma, sated that the ANC-led government has committed itself to seriously investing on infrastructure and transport development. The Passenger Rail Agency of SA and Transnet are hard at work to improve the railway transportation in our country. The Passenger Rail Agency of SA will use, over 20 years, R123 billion to build 7 224 metro coaches and create 65 000 jobs.
The long-term objective is that 65% of trains will be produced locally, in South Africa. [Applause.] The strategy developed by Prasa and shared by Transnet creates opportunities for South Africa to practically translate Nepad, relate to the indigenisation and economic policy of the government of Zimbabwe and the Southern African Development Community region, in terms of using mineral resources in Africa for local beneficiation.
The Passenger Rail Agency of SA needs three years to facilitate the establishment of manufacturing plants in South Africa. There is also a need to produce the required engineering skills so as to take advantage of job opportunities in railway transportation. We know that our people are patient when they understand what will be achieved in the end. They waited 82 years for their liberation.
The Passenger Rail Agency of SA presented a railway transportation transformation strategy to the Portfolio Committee on Transport that is developmental in a sense that it addresses the transportation needs of the people. It is balanced in the sense that it allows for the increasing of the travelling speed of our trains from 80 kms to 250 kms per hour on the existing railway lines. It also introduces new high speed trains at 270 kms to 430 kms per hour. It links railway lines to airports and opens new corridors and economic hubs. The Passenger Rail Agency of SA has taken the programme of co-operatives development more seriously, and developed a strategy that opens the market to co-operatives in railway transportation, focusing on cleaning of train stations and organising hawkers at train stations to form themselves into co-operatives.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, wants to unlock the value of railway properties to create economic hubs and build its financial capacity, and use that capacity to fund railway transportation needs going forward. Prasa is not talking of borrowing and relying forever on government funding and depending on other countries for the supply of skills and technology. That is, to us, a developmental approach, building your own capacity and making use of your own resources for your own benefit. Prasa has identified the need for a railway policy development. We concur with Prasa on that.
The SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, has had many challenges, to the extent that such challenges overwhelm the good work that Sanral has done in South Africa. Sanral has also suffered as a result of a mandate this Parliament gave to it, through Act 7 of 1998, where, in this House, Sanral was mandated to build national roads using state money for non-toll roads and borrowed money for toll roads. We need to review the mandate of Sanral to make Sanral more developmental.
A lot of noise is being made about e-tolling, a system of collecting money from road users. What is not being said is what exactly is wrong with the system. What is wrong is that, 18 years into democracy, South Africa should have developed its own technology to collect the fees, instead of using the technology that is from another country at a high cost. That is what is wrong.
Who decided on the technology? It is companies who invested in the project together with Sanral, including Kopano Ke Matla, an investment arm of Cosatu. [Interjections.] [Applause.] If the technology is wrong, those who benefited through the project in terms of profits, including Cosatu, should, in solidarity with ordinary citizens, return the profits they made out of the project. The government has made its own contribution. It is high time that we focus on development and use our efforts to correct what is wrong and stop making a noise. [Interjections.] The ANC supports this Budget ...
An HON MEMBER: That's surprising!
Ms N R BHENGU: ... and wish all other members will debate ...
An HON MEMBER: Cosatu rejects the Budget!
Ms N R BHENGU: ... in a more progressive manner. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr I M OLLIS / Mpho/UNH (Checked) & Nb/ /Robyn – ed/ / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Take: 365
Ms N R BHENGU
Mr I M OLLIS: Chairperson, Ministers, colleagues, public transport and infrastructure is provided by government in a context. We must not pretend to live in a country cut off from the world or in a timeless void without any reference to our difficult past or a promising future. The people of South Africa live in cities and towns built in the context of apartheid geography, where many, through no fault of their own, were forced to live very far from work, social amenities and tertiary education opportunities.
Today, people still live far from work. Transportation is one of the key areas where the DA believes the state can provide a form of redress by providing fast, safe and inexpensive transport facilities to bring people closer to those opportunities that are sorely needed. In that context, does the money we are spending in this year's budget help provide fast, safe and cost-effective transportation solutions to the people of South Africa?
An HON MEMBER: No.
Mr I M OLLIS: Unfortunately for us, the previous Minister of Transport, Mr Jeff Radebe, has left the current Minister Ndebele with a serious can of worms to deal with. [Interjections.] We have, firstly, the highway robbers in the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, with the world's most expensive toll collection system ever. We have the pirates in the Transnet National Ports Authority with the most expensive harbours in the world; the skyjacking Airports Company South Africa who build new international airports and then just up their fees, driving tourists away; and finally those two bankrupt twins, the Road Traffic Management Corporation and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency.
The Radebe legacy was to bequeath South Africa a transport system that has no overarching plan to connect our complex entities with the future infrastructure projects. We have no national mobility study telling us where people need to travel now and where in future. We, thus, have no strategy as to how to move people in a cost-effective, speedy and environmentally friendly way.
The DA government would first establish the transport needs objectively and then provide a national transportation strategy to link all future infrastructure roll-outs to that plan. In that way, we could ensure that we have the right form of public transport, in the right place, at the right time. What we have, instead, is years of neglected infrastructure and the recent rush to throw cash at every perceived transportation problem – R5,7 billion here to prop up the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and R123 billion on new passenger trains, etc.
The Gauteng e-tolling is a great example of that kind of failure. The DA is not opposed to toll roads. They provide a mechanism to fund the maintenance on and improvements to our national roads. However, what we have been forced into with the e-toll is the world's most expensive toll collection system. It will cost over R1 billion per annum just to collect the fees. That money will not go to upgrade highways but to the company that won the tender overseas. By comparison, a small fuel levy would only cost approximately R4 million per annum to administer, and the rest of the money could actually be put to improving the roads.
The increased fees applicable to nonregistered users are exorbitant. If someone from Umlazi wanders on holiday into the Gauteng freeway system, they could be charged up to six times what the e-tag users pay. Sanral billboards only indicate the cheapest prices payable, if you have an e-tag. The visitor will receive a much higher bill than was advertised on the billboard, long after they have left Gauteng. [Interjections.]
Furthermore, if a truck has the configuration of a horse and two trailers, how many e-tags must they purchase? If you do not buy the e-tag for the middle trailer, its license plate cannot be photographed by the e-toll gantries and it will escape free of charge. When trucking companies call 0800 Sanral, they cannot find out what to do about that middle trailer, if it will be tolled, what rate it will be tolled and how to budget their Gauteng highway robbery costs in future.
Apparent discounts of 25% to travel between midnight and 05:00 are also not practical. It means the truck driver and the assistant need to be paid three extra hours of overtime pay in order to claim a 25% rebate on the toll fee. It will actually cost companies more to travel outside of peak hours.
Minister, you cannot govern by the backdoor pressurising people to buy an e-tag, either. Using regulations that are not subject to parliamentary scrutiny to create a new police force of peace officers and a hike to the price for people who do not buy the e-tag is unacceptable. Just bring the Transport Law Enforcement and Related General Matters Amendment Bill of 2010 to Parliament, where it can be properly debated and we can have an aboveboard process. Victory, victory, victory! At least one judge agrees with the opposition that this matter is substantive and urgent, and they are dealing with it. [Interjections.]
If the DA was in government, we would cancel the Gauteng e-toll immediately. [Applause.] In fact, we would never have implemented this wasteful collection system in the first place. [Interjections.] A small fuel levy over time would pay for the highways, as it does on the N6 to Buffalo City, and there are other options too.
What about the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, and Metrorail, etc? Prasa has been the poor stepchild of the ANC for far too long. Minister Radebe left Prasa with a collapsing train system. Thankfully, Cabinet has finally come to the rescue, but is throwing R123 billion at Prasa after decades of underinvestment.
Again, throwing huge sums of money suddenly at this problem is dangerous if we do not have a national strategy. Where is the budget for improved security and the vandal-proof fences that will protect the new trains from vandalism? We are losing R100 million per annum to vandalism and this Budget is the size of the arms deal over the 20 years.
The bus rapid transit, BRT, and metro buses in the country are in a terrible state. In Cape Town, we have what must be the Rolls-Royce MyCiTi bus system. I am sure when I mention the words "Cape Town" or "DA", the hon Minister Cronin is getting ready to, in the words of Irvin Jim, "vulgarise Marxism" by using his false dualities to rubbish an opponent. However, I would urge the Deputy Minister not to vulgarise the City of Cape Town in the process! [Laughter.]
In Johannesburg - heading towards Ellis Park from Braamfontein - the painted lanes of the BRT system have long since worn off and disappeared and the first a motorist knows that he has wandered into a bus lane is when he arrives at the bus station and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, JMPD, Metro Police have parked in the lane in front of him.
In Pretoria, I have witnessed more than 50% of the buses that have been declared unroadworthy. I have already asked Ministers Ndebele and Cronin to intervene in this crisis, but we are still waiting for a response.
Finally, we get to the truly ugly - the Nelson Mandela Bay Integrated Public Transport System, IPTS.
An HON MEMBER: Shocking!
Mr I M OLLIS: This waste of public funds has to be seen to be believed. On Friday, I personally inspected buildings in North End that have had their façades smashed off because traffic lanes are so narrow that the trucks cannot turn the corners there. To make matters worse, there is R100 million worth of taxpayers' money in the IPTS buses sitting rusting in the Windy City. They have not once travelled on the IPTS. The Minister must investigate that mess in Port Elizabeth.
Finally, the Rhino Card - I have here with me something that is a positive contribution the DA can make. This is a Gautrain ticket. This ticket is a smart card, which is used to access the Gautrain network. The MyCiTi buses in Cape Town also use a smart card ticket, as does the BRT bus system in Johannesburg. What the public does not know is that these cards are identical technology and Prasa, in the form of Metrorail, is busy implementing the same technology in their new-generation turnstiles in the Metrorail stations.
Minister, if you lead the way, these five or six systems can be integrated by October next year, and South Africa could have its own integrated ticketing system, known overseas as an "Oyster Card". But let us call it a Rhino Card, use one rand from every card purchased to save our wildlife and make it a collector's item for tourists when they come here. Imagine, one smart card covering the whole of South Africa? All you need to do, Minister, is push the button to begin the integration of the databases and software, which already exist. They have got the same software and the same hardware. We could start selling Rhino Cards by Christmas 2013 to tourists from Beijing! I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr P D MBHELE / Nb/ /Robyn – ed/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Take: 366
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,25 Apr 2012,"[Take-333333366] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][gs].doc"
Mr I M OLLIS
Mr P D MBHELE: Hon Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, hon Members and guests, I wish to begin by focusing on the issues of our passenger rail service. While South Africa has the largest rail network in Africa, there is no denying that long distance passenger travel has declined substantially in South Africa. This means that Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, PRASA, is playing a continuously decreasing role in integrating economic as well as social development of our country.
In South Africa, of the nation's 20 000 kilometres of track, about 10 000 kilometres are fully utilized while 7000 kilometres of track carry little or no traffic at all. Our railways must perform the dual role of functioning as a commercial undertaking and also as a provider of public utility service. Social service obligations through targeted subsidies can encourage farmers to bring produce to market.
There was a time in the old South Africa when rail was one of the biggest employers of poor whites. In present day India, the railways continue to be one of the biggest employers and houses tens of thousands of people in the so called railway colonies which are housing estates run and owned by the railways.
In respect of the hardly used 7000 kilometres of railway tracks, government should perhaps appoint a panel of experts to determine how these asserts can be better utilised. If needs be, these tracks should be given over to private enterprises to utilise and most importantly create new jobs.
One of the department's priorities for 2012-13 is to build a rail network by promoting investment in rail commuter service and developing a policy for rail. Across all areas of government, the narrative is prompted by intentions followed by intentions. What we need are road maps, time tables and progress reports. Hon Chairperson, could the Minister inform the House how often this year he intends to release progress reports on the above-mentioned matter.
I now wish to turn my attention to Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, TRP. After ten long years of talking, the government gazetted the requirements of TRP compliant vehicles on the 04 September 2008. A scrapping of allowance of R50 000 per old taxi vehicle was introduced. It seems as if government has forgotten about inflation. In February 2009, cabinet had to correct and approved the linkage with the Consumer Price Index.
By the end of last year, only 38 760 vehicles had been scrapped at a cost of R1,7 billion. The second intended incentive from government was a subsidy to the industry if it created a corporate structure. We would like the Minister to tell us whether this matter of bringing the taxi industry into the subsidy net, has now been fully and finally resolved. We would also like to know to what extent agreements had been reached with banks and other financial institutions to fund the industry.
Since transport is pivotal to economic growth, it is necessary for the department to act in a decisive manner. Provinces had been legging behind for a long time in converting permits and the million rand question is whether all the provinces had cleared the backlogs. If not, what is the Minister going to do about this matter.
Cope is also very keen to hear what success the government has had in prosecuting those found to have been corruptly issuing permits to illegal operators.
Let me now focus on the question of e-tolling. This has been a public relations disaster. Up to Friday last week, owners of taxis and busses were not clear on the criteria for exemption of commuter busses and mini-bus taxis from e-tolls. Questions were also being asked about how South African National Road Agency Limited, Sanral, and Department of Transport were planning to control and manage these exemptions so that they do not apply to illegal taxis.
The Minister must also use this opportunity to explain what measures are going to be put into place to prevent hacking. Will the Minister permit Mythbusters - a show on discovery channel, to test the system for security, traceability and reliability? The fear is that the e-tags will be quickly cloned or hacked and that measures should be in place to ensure that it is not subverted by criminal elements.
Managing such a complex system is another matter of great concern. The management of finances in particular is a matter of cardinal importance. Furthermore, what measures of accountability are being built into guaranteed transparency?
The tariffs that are being proposed for those who do not buy e-tags are prohibitive in the first instance and a bully boy tactic in the second instance. The one lesson that this government has to learn very fast is that the majority party was given a mandate to administer the country not to rule over the people. In recent times, the government seem to be under the impression that it has the right to rule. This attitude is causing public protests to multiply and the situation that is emerging in South Africa is akin to that which can be described in Animal Farm; the government begins to reek of the smells of the government it replaced. The political elite and the common people are clearly growing poles apart.
As the tolling of the roads is going to substantially increase the cost of transport, people will turn to rail and bus transport. This will require linking people from stations to their homes. As the cost of transport increases, people would want a seamless and cost effective system of public transport that is on hand when they want it. At present, shuttle services of that kind are not readily available. We would like to hear from the Minister whether the government has a policy in this regard or not.
Finally, I come to the question of maritime transport. Why did this segment get a haircut? A decrease in 10,6% which in real terms is a matter of concern. Of greater concern is that a country with the 38th largest coastline in the world hasn't a single ship in its registry. Instead of being one of the great shipping nations on the earth, we are actually nothing. [Laughter.]
Dubai is a lesson of what can be done to create a transport hub literally out of the desert. A decrease of 83.6% in the Maritime Infrastructure and Industry Development is a severe indictment on this government. Our coastal areas are heavily inhabited. They are sadly lacking in economic opportunities. The department should as a matter of urgency invite private enterprises to take up the slack and create a viable maritime transport services.
In conclusion, I wish to say that the department has by no means exhausted the innumerable possibilities of job creation in the land, air and sea transport arena. Millions of our people are out of jobs and yet infrastructure that is already there is not being fully utilised. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr E J LUCAS
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 366 & 367
Mr P D MBHELE
Mr E J LUCAS: Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister and the department, it is a pleasure to note that 2012 has been declared the year of infrastructure development demanding, amongst others, better roads and an improved rail system. Infrastructural Development will be driven by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, PICC, which was established last year and tasked to finding solutions to our existing infrastructural needs inclusive of transport.
Transnet will invest R300 billion in capital projects over the next seven years and R200 billion has already been allocated to rail projects. A further R854 million has been committed to infrastructure development in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, of which R267 million has been set aside for rail and road transport.
It is of utmost importance that we direct our energies and efforts towards an effective and efficient rail transport system as this has been neglected over the years. The net effect of being overuse and damage to the road infrastructure; migration of freight transport from the medium of road back to rail must be encouraged and policy decision taken in support thereof.
The IFP fully supports the revitalisation of our rail system and all efforts associated with modernisation of same. We firmly believe that rail should be the backbone of this country's transport system. This is also of further strategic economic importance to the country as an efficient rail network connects us to the continent and allows us to operate as an effective gateway to Africa. A concern is however, our rolling stock as this is currently over 33 years old and in dire need of replacement and refurbishment as it is both unsafe and unreliable.
The Gautrain is an excellent example of what a modern rail transport system has to offer and should be like, in order to improve the lives of citizens. This high level form of rail transport should be rolled out country wide. On the contrary, the criminal theft of copper cable however, continues to be most worrisome as it is both highly costly as well as disruptive to the efficient running of the train. The reality is that we should be looking at replacing the copper cabling with fibre optic system as this will stop the theft thereof.
Hon Chairperson, our road network is also in a veritable state of disrepair and once again, one of the major contributing factors thereof is an inefficient and ineffective rail transport system.
Heavy goods are being transported by road instead of rail, the net result being the rapid deterioration of the road network. This combined with insufficient road maintenance creates problems and delays which in turn hamper economic growth.
Potholes and poor maintenance abound in most of our provincial road networks. Two months ago I was personally a victim thereof whilst travelling from Ulundi to Durban when I struck a pothole which destroyed my right front tyre. This is certainly not an experience which I would wish to recommend to any of you.The Minister and his department must be thanked for their efforts with regard to the road safety campaign. However, the public must also take responsibility for ensuring safety on our roads. Last year he had major crashes with many fatalities.
The IFP also recommends the testing of vehicles for road worthiness be monitored closely as some of the establishments that test vehicles are highly questionable. The same oversight is required at our traffic departments in order to combat the high incidence of learners and driver licence fraud. We believe these measures will go a long way in promoting safety on our roads. It is clear that the general public, labour and business are upset with the controversial e-tolling project in Gauteng and how it has been handled by the department. This appears to be a real challenge for the department and I see that all the speakers are touching on this subject.
In conclusion, the IFP hopes that we can all work towards a South Africa in which reduced carbon emissions and sustainable green environmental policy is the order of the day. Our future generations deserve nothing less! The IFP supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT (Mr J P Cronin)/ KC & JN
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 367 & 368
Mr E J LUCAS
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT (Mr J P Cronin): Chairperson, Minister, Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Transport the hon Ruth Bhengu, fellow Members of Parliament, colleagues and MECs, I recognise the director general and the Department of Transport, DoT, colleagues, I want to build on Minister Ndebele's comprehensive outline of the many different areas of sectoral responsibility of the DoT, I would like to step back a little and ask a couple of broad basic questions.
Why after 18 years of democracy do we still encounter so many challenges with public transport in our country? The Easter weekend road crash statistics showed a significant decline this year, thanks to concerted efforts from the DoT, Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, provinces, other enforcement agencies and the driving public. We should note and welcome it but we still have extremely high levels of road fatalities and injuries, why? Why and these matters are not disconnected from the broader transport issues. Why do we still have such high levels of inequality and unemployment in our society? To answer these questions it is absolutely important to understand the impact of the past on our present.
Some will say that you cannot go on blaming apartheid after 18 years of democracy. I agree for two reasons. The first reason is that it is not a question of blaming, it is a question of analysing and understanding the impact of the past on the present so that we can change what is wrong in the present. [Applause.] Secondly, I agree, because apartheid is far too narrow a perspective to understand. Apartheid was a mid 20th century political project of the National Party, but it was not disconnected from a much longer history. When I was a young person in the 1960s and 70s it was fashionable amongst English-speaking liberal withes in South Africa to forget their own past and blame apartheid for the problems of South Africa and to blame it on the so called backward frontier mentality of Afrikaners.
This was a convenient way of exonerating British colonialism, and the Chamber of Mines and the big banking houses who had all established the cornerstones of what later came to be apartheid. [Applause.] The invidious apartheid system was laid down long before 1948: land dispossession; native reserves; indirect rule through hand-picked traditional leaders; pass laws; the migrant labour system and so forth. Apartheid was a more aggressive application of these measures in the face of deepening challenges to the earlier colonial and segregationist policies.
The decisive process that shaped modern South Africa was the introduction, from outside of an advanced, capital-intensive, mining-based, industrial revolution in the last quarter of the 19th century. I do not believe that all of us have given sufficient attention and weight to the impact on the present. The industrial revolution in South Africa did not emerge organically out of local small-scale, artisanal manufacturing. It arrived in a highly developed, oligopolistic form as massive joint-stock companies focused on extraction of mineral wealth for the benefit of outside forces.
This propelled spectacular growth in South Africa but what once did it has now shaped and distorted South Africa's economy and broader social realities ever since. Our economy continues to be excessively dependent on unbeneficiated mineral exports. Our manufacturing sector, with some exceptions is weakly developed, as is the small and medium-enterprise sector. The dominance of the mineral-energy-finance complex is hard-wired into the texture of our society.
Let us take a relatively small but telling example. Thanks to recent works by the National Ports Regulator, we have only recently discovered significant anomalies in our port levies regime. Port charges at our Saldanha iron ore export terminal are 47% below the global average for similar terminals. Our coal export terminal port charges are 37% below the global average. By contrast, our port charges on a full container box for export, for instance, basically on manufactured goods, and that would be wine or fruit juice or whatever is in a container, are about 415% higher than the global average.
Now bear in mind that iron ore mining creates on average around 500 jobs, coal mining around 1000 jobs, and manufacturing around 3700 jobs for every R1 billion of production. Then you begin to get an understanding of one of the myriad ways a particular history, shaped by this mining revolution, dominated by the mining-finance complex, has structured amongst other things our transport system, and distorted our economy. Written into the pricing of our transport logistics system are distortions that are part of a broader, problematic, entrenched growth path that undermines our capacity to create much higher levels of employment in our country.
We have to change the growth path itself, and we have to ensure that our transport interventions are contributing to that transformation.
Once recognized, it is relatively easy to effect progressive changes to our port charges. This is exactly what lay behind President Zuma's state of the nation address announcement in February this year of a R1 billion rebate on port charges for manufactured exports. So we are recognising these distortions and we are doing something actively about them. It is considerably more complex to develop a comprehensive policy including a comprehensive transport freight policy to tackle the web of factors that continue to strangle the development of our industrial base. When we do try, we are often told by the opposition that the state should not second guess the market. But business as usual will simply reproduce all the same old flaws.
If our mining-led revolution shaped and distorted our logistics network in its own favour for exports of unbeneficiated goods, it also required vast quantities of coerced, unskilled migrant labour, and this meant deliberate spatial engineering. Migrant labour, subsidized by families locked into poverty-stricken reserves later becoming bantustans is no longer the central feature of our labour market. But through the 20th century, segregationist urban settlement controls increasingly reproduced the same structural reality. The black working class was settled in remote, peri-urban reserves, dormitory townships as you mentioned hon Bhengu, far enough away from the commanding heights of power and wealth to be contained and controlled, but close enough to be migrated daily to work in factories, shops, and white suburban homes.
This has resulted in a persisting, racialised urban geography. Black workers and the urban poor in South Africa are hugely disadvantaged by their geographical marginalization in dormitory townships. They are basically reserves, they are just daily reserves.
The average public transport trip in London is 8 kilometres, in Tshwane it's 26 kilometres and the average bus trip in Cape Town is 20 kilometres. These long commutes in South African cities are typically from high-density dormitory townships, along low-density corridors into central business districts, CBDs, and industrial zones.
In the case of the Mangaung metro, the past is even more dramatically written into the geography of the present. The Metro of the Mangaung consist of the old Bloemfontein, which remains relatively concentrated and compact, and the former Bantustan area Thaba Nchu, which is 50 kilometres away from the outskirts of Bloemfontein. Yet one third of Mangaung's population lives in Thaba Nchu, without resources, work and amenities. These long distances have a huge impact on the poorest of the poor. Households in South Africa, earning less than R500,00 a month, are spending on average 35% of their pathetic meagre incomes households income on transport and mobility.
Hon Ollis recognises this but notice what his recommendation is: A rhino cart, moving people faster from where they are and better to where they are going. It is not about transforming the white suburban pattern and also not about transforming and deracialising the urban patterns of South Africa. [Applause.]
The pattern of urban sprawl has an extremely negative impact also on the viability of our public transport systems and that is why they are limping. This is one of the reasons they have huge problems. Large fleets are required to move millions of people every single working day. But the long distances mean that often the bus fleets can only make one ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs M C Mabuza): Order, hon members! You are making it difficult for me to hear the Deputy Minister. Please!
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT (Mr J P Cronin): But the long distances mean that often the bus fleets can only make one overcrowded trip in the morning and one in the evening in the peak period. When more than one trip is possible, the return trip is an empty, uneconomical pick-up fetching trip. At 10:00 a.m, in most of our cities, you will find bus fleets and train fleets, subsidized out of public money to the tune of some R7 billion a year, lying idle. It is not their fault, it is not because of poor operations, it is the special racialised geography of South Africa that remains so deeply imprinted on our reality. [Applause.]
Now with the growing urbanization of the 70s and 80s, the apartheid regime increasingly gave up on spending on bus and rail transport for the dormitory townships into which they had forcibly removed the black working class. Low cost survivalist minibuses moved into that gap. In 1975 in Johannesburg only 3% of commuters were using minibuses compared to 41% in 2000. Buses' share of the market declined from 22% to 4% and rail from 20% to 8%, as the cities grew, as the disposal of the people grew and as the lack of investment into providing transport in these distant places grew. I agree that it is still happening now.
The emergence of the minibus sector needs to be saluted of course, as one of the outstanding examples of grass-roots, bottom-up empowerment. However, minibuses are inherently not the safest, nor are they the most fuel efficient mode for transporting large numbers of people over long distances on a daily basis. Congestion, pollution, overcrowding and road crashes are among the consequences that we continue to bear as a country for having lost the viability of our mass transit public transport systems.
We won't overcome all these challenges just through delivery of more Reconstruction Development Program, RDP, houses in the same distant localities, or more bus subsidies for the same daily migratory haul over long distances. [Interjections.] Exactly. There has to be a determined effort to tackle the root causes of ongoing exclusion.
We need integrated public transport systems, mixed-use, mixed-income human settlements, and deracialised human settlements and relatively dense corridor development. These are among the key strategic priorities of the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission to which the Minister referred, which has also identified getting a much greater democratic public sector grip on land use management and speculation in property.
And that brings us to the flip-side of the same urban sprawl challenges. While the apartheid regime was forcibly removing ever-growing numbers of black people into dormitory townships, there was also, something that we forget, a major private sector-led, civil-engineering and property speculator-driven programme of freeway, shopping mall and suburban housing construction in and around the outskirts of our major urban conglomerations. Increasingly, the white middle-income households moved out of the inner city suburbs of Hillbrow, Yeoville, Sunnyside into more car-commuting, shopping-mall, peri-urban housing developments in Fourways, Somerset West, Sunninghill, and so forth. This freeway construction to serve the misplaced aspirations of white middle-income households saw average travel times increase for this stratum as well.
In Johannesburg car travel times have increased by nearly 60% since 1980. That is partly because of congestion but partly also just because of the sheer distance at which people are living. Now unfortunately, because we have not always sufficiently asked ourselves what the problem is that we are trying to solve when we invest in infrastructure, we have also too often allocated too much to car-commuting, freeway expansion in the post-1994 period, of which the current e-tolling hot potato is a glaring example.
toll project here in Cape Town. Minister Pravin Gordhan has said that as government, we have learnt many self-critical lessons from the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, GFIP. As the Department of Transport, the Minister and I have said that if we could re-wind the clock back to 2007, we would not recommend embarking on this project at all. We have made that very clear.
However, alas! There is a R20 billion debt. It has been incurred on Phase A1, which is about 180 kilometres of what was projected to be, let's not forget, more than 500 kilometres of e-tolling. Minister Ndebele and MEC Vadi from Gauteng have also categorically put on hold any further expansions of GFIP. Minister Ndebele has also clearly instructed South African National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, not to proceed with any other tolling projects, unless much better motivation for tolling is provided, or for that matter for any particular project, whether it is tolled or otherwise. This applies, amongst other things, to the N1 and N2
But R20 billion has already been spent. Alas! How do we pay for the debt incurred? Increase the fuel levy, we are told again. We have looked at that option and there are several reasons why we, as Cabinet, have agreed with Treasury in not choosing not to go this route.
Firstly, above all, as others have said, it will be like asking a Lusikisiki or a Mitchells Plain taxi operator to pay more for a fuel levy so that we can fund infrastructure which is basically a middleclass infrastructure, not exclusive based in Guateng. [Applause.]
Secondly, what about a dedicated Gauteng fuel levy? That might have been more feasible in the days when the levy was collected at the pump, but it is now collected directly from the refineries and so it would add an administrative costs. We agree that the particular tolling option that is gone for is very expensive. Hon Ollis, you can't on the one hand boast of a Roll-Royce bus rapid transit, BRT, here in Cape Town - imported much of it, at a great expense - and then at the same time complain about a Rolls-Royce e-tolling system in Gauteng. You can't have your cake and eat, it hon Ollis. Of course, there is great unhappiness. We appreciate that.
One Congress of South African Trade Unions, Cosatu, affiliate issued a statement this week saying: "Our aim is to make the tolls uncollectible and force the government and Sanral to find more equitable ways to pay for road improvements." We empathise with the concern expressed by Cosatu, for those car owners in Gauteng who are not wealthy or middle-class, who cannot really afford a car. Thank you. [Applause.]
Ms R M MOTESPE / JN & AZM/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 368 & 369
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT
Ms R M MOTSEPE: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister of Transport, hon members and distinguished guests, transport infrastructure in general and the rail transport in particular, plays an important role in the economic development of our country. We therefore cannot stop talking about it. Particularly, access to rail transport is very important in enabling every member of society to realise her or his potential and in participating in the social and economic life. It thus contributes to the reduction of inequality.
For us to bridge the gap between the usage of rail transport and other modes of transport, we need to address the issues of rail infrastructure first and then make sure that rail transportation is accessible to all South Africans, irrespective of their geographical location.
There are many understated factors that hinder access to rail transport in South Africa. Factors such as infrastructure, public and private partnerships and many others will continue to haunt the system if they are not adequately addressed. Our expectation is that the budgeting process should steadily address the factors that hinder access to a rail transportation in South Africa. Our President, in his 2012 state of the nation address, highlighted the challenges of poverty and unemployment in South Africa.
Our Country again as part of addressing the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment, the President invited the nation to join government in a massive infrastructure development drive.
The infrastructure plan, driven and overseen by the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission has played and an important role in the development of a plan that will develop and integrate rail, road and water infrastructure, centred around two main areas in Limpopo, the Waterberg in the western part of the province and Steelpoort in the eastern part.
As the President mentioned, using the development in Limpopo as a base will expand rail transport in Mpumalanga, thus connecting coalfields to power stations. This will enable us to decisively reduce the strain experienced by road transport at the moment, as rail and maritime transportation are being developed.
The ANC-led government has made a breakthrough in this regard. We are really committed to getting South Africa moving. This process will also play an important role in the movement of goods in our country. Economic integration with our neighbouring African countries will be enhanced. This is a very good initiative for economic development.
Hon Minister, in conclusion, the challenges outlined above puts a spotlight on the 2012 Budget Vote. What we noted was that the budget sets a good pace for addressing these challenges, with earmarked Medium-Term Expenditure Framework allocations further accelerating the pace.
The gains that the department has made in the past three years give us hope that, as the ANC, we are on the right path and that all South Africans will have access to all forms of transport, including rail transport. The vision and pronouncements that the department has articulated on the matter – which will totally reshape the landscape of transportation – are a case in point.
Issues like the use of rail transport and the upgrading of rail infrastructure that have been neglected for years, should be fast-tracked. There is a need to financially assist institutions that are already implementing this exercise so that they can serve as a model for other institutions.
I want to use the remaining time to focus on an important project known as the Greenview-Mamelodi Rail Capacity Enhancement and Modernisation Infrastructure Project. This project is close to my heart because its investment happened in my own township, Mamelodi, and its constituency area which covers Greenview, Mamelodi Gardens and Pienaarspoort in Mamelodi East. I visited the project last week and I am due to visit it again this coming Sunday with the group chief executive officer of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, and his team.
KwaZulu-Natal Metrorail spokeswoman, Thandi Mkhize, contended that, based on their 2008 and 2009 assessments, the province should be running 465 trains daily with 57 train sets. Studies proposed that a further 10 train sets needed to be introduced in 2011 to handle the expected increase in passengers in KwaZulu-Natal. In May 2010 though, KwaZulu-Natal Metrorail was operating 402 trains with 52 train sets.
During the same period, Cape Town required 120 trains a day but only 91 were running. Overall, Metrorail immediately requires an additional 720 coaches to be introduced into its environment. Passenger rail transport could form the backbone of an efficient, affordable and reliable mode of transport. With its fixed nature, rail has the potential to ensure greater integration between land-use planning and transport infrastructure provision. This is vital in creating sustainable communities where people access the economy
[Interjections.]
You must shut up! [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Mrs M C Mabuza): Hon member, can you withdraw the word shut up?
Ms R M MOTSEPE: Chair, with respect, I will withdraw the word.
The use of passenger rail also contributes towards easing congestion on the country's roads.
Allow me to say that the 2012 Budget Vote sets a faster pace for making progress in addressing the challenges and needs of our people. I therefore fully support the budget.
Mr A D ALBERTS / AZM MNGUNI & /TH (Eng & Afr)//nvs (Eng & Afr) / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Take: 369
Ms R M MOTSEPE
Mr A D ALBERTS: Chairperson and hon Minister...
Afrikaans:
U departement het heelwat komplekse probleme van die vorige administrasie geërf. Sommige word sinvol aangespreek en dan is daar dié wat so verkeerd bestuur word dat geen salf meer daaraan te smeer is nie.
English:
The government's infrastructure plan, especially with regard to the upgrading of the railway system for both passengers and freight conveyance, seems sensible, and we trust that these programmes will be executed without corruption, discrimination and other wastage of the taxpayers' money. There are however three problems that the Minister needs to address.
Firstly, the public and business still find rail transport too expensive. If no incentives are created to change transport habits, then the expenses incurred through upgrading the railway system and building new portions will be fruitless. How is the Minister going to address this concern?
Secondly, while we must be forward-looking in policy and action, we must never forget the contributions made by previous generations in building institutions like Transnet. Yet, that is exactly what government is doing by ignoring the plight of the pensioners on the two Transnet pension funds, who are still receiving only 2% increases per annum.
I have noted that Prasa will force any successful manufacturer in a rail tender to bring a black economic empowerment, BEE, partner on board. If that is the case, why can't Transnet and Prasa also require the successful bidders in all tenders to make a social investment contribution to the Transnet pension funds, so that pensioners can forthwith receive increases equal to inflation? This will avoid another expensive court case that involves government.
Afrikaans:
Agb Minister, aan die een kant spandeer die regering geld aan openbare infrastruktuur opgradering en skepping ten einde die ekonomie te laat groei. Die Minister van Handel en Nywerheid skep heelwat programme om industrialisering en werkskepping aan te moedig. Aan die ander kant besluit die regering om, teen alle goeie advies, voort te gaan met die aanskakel van die e-tolstelsel in Gauteng.
English:
This tolling system is in essence nothing but a government-induced cancer introduced into South Africa's economic system. Everyone in this country – except the South African National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, and the government, it seems – is in agreement about the adverse effects of this cancer once activated. The unfolding of this saga is like watching a terrible accident unfolding in slow motion.
We all know that once a tax has been introduced, governments do not do away with it. They just increase the rates. This immoral tax, under the guise of a toll tariff, has already sown the seeds of discontent – for popular revolt – in this country like nothing since 1994. Therefore this matter must be urgently dealt with as a socio-political issue and not as a legal one. Ignorance is bliss, but in this case it will be suicide. We urge you therefore to heed and bow to the will of the people. Thank you.
Ms D E DLAKUDE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 369 & 370
Mr A D ALBERTS
Ms D E DLAKUDE: Hon Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, members and members of the transport family led by the director-general, I greet you all.
Every year, more than 1,7 million people die in road accidents around the world. About 70% of these deaths occur in the developing countries. It is estimated that developing countries lose in the region of US$1 billion every year through road accidents. This is almost twice as much as the total development assistance received worldwide by developing countries. These are the resources that no country can afford to lose. Unfortunately, these losses inhibit the economic and social development of the developing countries.
About 14 000 people are killed yearly due to road accidents in South Africa. This costs the country more than R40 billion annually. This becomes a burden to the Road Accident Fund, which has a huge backlog of claims due to the legal processes they have to go through. These billions could be invested in areas where there is no infrastructure development. Pedestrians also account for 50% of road accidents in the country.
Available evidence suggests that the primary risk group – as far as road infringements are concerned – are men between 18 and 45 years of age. "Old Assembly Main", Unrevised Hansard,30 Apr 2012,"Take 370 [Old Assembly Main].doc"
Included in this group is the high level of public transport and heavy vehicle crashes, as well as noncompliance with driving permits in these categories. Other primary contributory factors include, but are not limited to, the state of our roads in rural areas, driving while a person is intoxicated, speeding and losing control of the vehicle, vehicle conditions, driver and vehicle legality, fraud and corruption.
In addition, weekends, from Fridays to Sundays, are identified as the most dangerous days of the week. Rush hours in the mornings, between 5:00 and 22:00, are when drunk driving plays a large part and those are the most dangerous times on the road. The vehicle population on the country's road is increasing every year and inexperienced drivers are also increasing. While the production numbers are on the increase, drivers' attitudes do not improve. In most cases, motorists fail to comply with the rules of the road. There is also a need for a probation period for new driver's license holders, because they are also a contributing factor to road accidents, either directly or indirectly so.
As a country we have advanced in terms of technology. In aeroplanes, they have fitted black boxes that assist investigators with information about what really happened before the crash. Why can't we have a similar instrument fitted in a car, which will record traffic violations by drivers? The information can be retrieved each time a person renews his or her vehicle and driver's licence because some people get away with murder on the country's roads.
It is against this backdrop that the Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, was established. In addition to responding to aforementioned challenges, the RTMC was aimed at pooling powers and resources, as well as eliminating the fragmentation of responsibilities of all aspects of road traffic management across various levels of government.
Allow me to give a brief history of where the RTMC was before the acting chief executive officer, CEO, Collins Letsoalo, was thrown into the deep end to save this entity which did not have a strategic focus and which had a disclaimer attached to its name. Some people were even advocating for the RTMC to be written off, but because Mr Collins Letsoalo and his team knew their story, they kept their cool and made sure that this entity is out of the intensive care unit. The Minister's and department's interventions forged a way forward for a very good turnaround strategy of the RTMC.
Though there is great improvement in the RTMC, serious attention must be on the amendment of the Land Traffic Act. This will ensure the total implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences. Not only that, but also that the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, RTIA, will be able to execute its constitutional mandate, which is ensuring that road infringement offences are complied with. The portfolio committee supports these entities and they must be given the necessary resources and support to do what is expected of them. [Applause.]
The Road Traffic Management Corporation achieved the following: Successful implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP, system; formation of the national traffic police; reduced irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure to zero; establishment of an external audit risk management committee; a 5% reduction on road fatalities for the period of 2011-12, with 1 475 deaths compared to the 1 551 during the 2010-11 festive season nationally; an 11% decrease in the Easter weekend of 2012, statistics showed that 181 fatal crashes were reported against 296 for the 2011 Easter period; acceptance of RTMC as a member of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration; as well as the finalisation of disciplinary matters within the RTMC.
South Africa is an affiliate in the Union Internationale Des Chauffeurs Routiers, UICR, as an international body for professional drivers, which co-ordinates and represents the interests of professional drivers world wide. The UICR also hosts the World Professional Drivers' Championships, which South Africa also participated in, in 2010. At the championship in 2010, South Africa was awarded the responsibility of hosting the 2012 world championships.
This accolade was accepted by the South African Embassy in Austria on behalf of the Minister of Transport, and since then the plan has been approved by the Department of Transport. As the custodian of the drivers of the year project, the RTMC is responsible for logistical arrangements, involving the hosting of the world championship in 2012. It is the responsibility of the RTMC, supported by the Department of Transport, to ensure the readiness of South Africa to successfully host the world championship.
The Portfolio Committee on Transport fully supports the RTMC and recommends that the agency be given the necessary resources for it to be able to fully execute its constitutional mandate.
Siswati:
Ndvuna lehlon, umntfwanakho utsi angakhlanganisa iminyaka lengema-21, bese umniketa sikhiya. Loko kukhombisa kutsi lomntfwana sewukhulile futsi sekangakhona kutimela yena. Njengemtali-ke ulindzela nome ngabe yini lengenteka. Kungenteka ube namakoti nome ube nemkhwenyana. Ngaleso sizatfu-ke, Ndvuna, sifuna kusho kutsi Lolubambiswano Lwekuphatfwa Kwetimoto Temgwaco, LLKT, [Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC,] selufike kuleso sigaba. Ngako sale luniketwa loko lokulufanele kuze lutewukhona kutentela imisebenti yalo ngalokukhulu kutetsemba.
English:
The Cross Border Road Traffic Agency used to be an ailing child, but as a portfolio committee and the Department of Transport, we allowed and gave the CEO, Mr Khumalo, and his team enough space and time to restructure and implement the turnaround strategy, which was a very good one. The portfolio committee supports this entity and recommends that it be given the necessary resources to execute its constitutional mandate.
The new National Rolling Traffic Law Enforcement Plan is another tool inaugurated on 1 October 2010. It enables law enforcement officers to stop and check no less than one million vehicles every month. The National Rolling Traffic Law Enforcement Plan is a case in point. In 10 months, from 1 October 2010 to 31 August 2011, 12 984 120 vehicles were stopped and checked; 5 540 275 fines were issued for various traffic offences; 18 527 drunk drivers were arrested and 50 272 unroadworthy vehicles, the majority of which were buses and taxis, were discontinued from use. In addition, from the... [Time expired.] I support the budget. [Applause.]
Mr S N SWART / /TH (Eng & Afr)//nvs (Eng & Afr) [checked in Reporter mode.] / (Sets) & Mpho/UNH (Checked)/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 370 & 371
Ms D E DLAKUDE
Mr S N SWART: Chairperson, the budget is in line with government's massive strategic objective of socioeconomic development, premised upon massive investments in the road, rail and public modes of transport, which receive R17,9 billion, R10,2 billion and R9,9 billion respectively. This the ACDP supports, as long as these funds are properly spent.
The department also needs to be commended on reduced death rates on the roads over the Ester weekend. Minister, well done, we should also rejoice for every life saved. [Applause.] However, the main debate of course today is related to the debacle around the e-tolling project. The ACDP shares the views of the previous speakers. However, we do appreciate the Deputy Minister's expression of empathy, and I would have liked to have heard the end of his speech.
Opposition to the project is not so much over the price, but the principle of tolling suburban routes. Lest we forget, tolls were introduced under two critical conditions; that only new national roads would be tolled and alternative routes would always be available. Suburban roads will now be tolled, with people expected to pay tolls for roads that they have largely already paid for. This is on top of a 75c increase in the price of fuel. Last month, and this afternoon, a 28c increase was announced.
The significance is that in 1991 the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in favour of a very courageous Johannesburg City Council in an action brought by that council to interdict the then South African Roads Board from tolling the N13, known as the southern bypass from Uncle Charlie's Interchange to the Rand Airport in the east.
What is important is that the court granted the interdict because the audi alteram partem principle had not been applied. The council had not been given an opportunity to be heard as to the consequences of the proposed tolling particularly on subsidiary alternative routes.
The ACDP believes that the present tolling project was yet again not preceded with a proper consultation process.
Hon Minister, following public outrage and after the toll gantries had been erected you quite correctly intervened and postponed the date. A much belated consultation process was held. However, taxpayers were told that there is a R20 billion debt that cannot be serviced unless they pay for tolls. Surely, the consultation process should have taken place before the debt was incurred. To date it has been argued that the tolls were announced in 2008. Yes, most of us were fast asleep. We should have raised issues at that stage already. It will no doubt be argued this very afternoon in court that the audi alteram partem principle has yet again not been complied with. Most definitely too little information was presented to allow for an informed decision on the tariffs, particularly the punitive R1,74c per kilometre rate for users without an e-tag.
Hon Minister, we are facing massive civil disobedience. As a longstanding member of the Justice Committee, we know the justice sector is overburdened with work. How is it going to handle the tens of hundreds of thousands of additional summonses? There must be an alternate solution. What is this possible solution? The Special Investigating Unit has estimated R25 to R30 billion per year is misappropriated. They are underfunded. Give them an extra billion rand they will recover R5 to R10 billion per year. In so doing we would have that additional funding that we need for this. That is something that I will request the Cabinet to suggest and to consider. Thank you, Chairperson.
Mrs N M MDAKA / Mpho/UNH (Checked) & NN (Eng) / GC /END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 371
Mr S N SWART
isiXhosa:
Nkskz N M MDAKA: Ngqanga neentsiba zayo! Ndivumeleni ndicamagushe...
English:
In the name of Jesus and my ancestors, roads are the primary mode of transport in Africa for both freight and passengers. However, we all know that the roads transport have several constraints. This is not only a South African phenomenon. In the entire African continent countries are experiencing constraints that limit their socioeconomic growth and development. The constraints that I'm talking about include the unavailability of sufficient funding to develop and expand the roads. Funds to maintain the existing roads, to restore drainage, filling potholes and cracks and maintaining edges are not always available.
The consequences of the lack of investments in the roads infrastructure results in the deterioration of all our roads. This affect the rural poor even more as it limits their chances of participating in the mainstream economy, access to basic services and even limiting their mobility. These constraints also impact on the overall macroeconomic of our country and subsequently impede all our efforts of poverty alleviation.
Hon members, frequent and continuous investment in transport infrastructure is required in all modes of transport to ensure an adequate transport infrastructure network that supports economic growth and development. Subsequently, this will contribute to poverty alleviation thereby increasing the day-to-day living standards of our people. If roads are not repaired timeously costs can rise seven-fold. According to some experts it will require additional funding of approximately R40 billion annually to manage these crisis.
While funding remains a continuous challenge the lack of skills remains the biggest challenge at all levels in our country. It is however, more acute at provincial and municipal levels. The enormous shortage of civil engineering staff in the municipal sector means that municipalities are failing to meet the delivery expectations that their communities have of them. The South African economy needs municipalities to play their part in ensuring well constructed and maintained engineering infrastructure if the country's economy is to achieve the ultimate gross domestic product, GDP, growth target of over 6% per year.
Another concern is the small number of graduates and diplomas that are being trained and mentored in municipalities. There is evidently a need for the municipal sector to play a greater role in this regard. Our Department of Transport has made an impressive stride in developing the national transport infrastructure network. In part these were catapulted by South Africa's hosting of the 2010 Federation International Football Association, Fifa World Cup.
Moreover, government has invested R18 billion on roads and R23 billion on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. Perhaps the most important intervention to date to attend to the state of the country's road infrastructure has been the introduction of S'hamba Sonke [Walking Together] programme. This is a new and innovative nationwide maintenance of South Africa's secondary road infrastructure using labour intensive methods of construction and maintenance.
IsiXhosa:
ENgquza, eMpuma Koloni, eMaMpondweni, kukho ilali esezantsi, Mnu Farrow. Xa unyuka usiya kwiziko lezempilo okanye esibhedlele kukho umthi apho abantu bafika baphumle khona kuba bayagula kwaye badiniwe. Abanye babo bayasweleka bengayanga kufika esibhedlele okanye endleleni. Lo mthi ubizwa ngokuba ngumthi wokufa [tree of death].
Mamelani ndinixelele. [Kwahlekwa.] Akakho urhulumente osebenza ngathi ngurhulumente okhokelwa yi-ANC. [Kwaqhwatywa.] Urhulumente okhokelwa yi-ANC ubeke izigidi ezingama-R450 bucala ukuze kulungiswe indlela yaseMpuma Koloni ephakathi kweKomani noMthatha kuba incinci kwaye isoloko ineengozi; abantu bafa yonke le mihla kuyo. Kungoko ke sicela ukuba ikhawuleziswe igqitywe loo ndlela.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order hon members, order. Hon member, will you please take your seat. Hon members on both sides of the House, the speaker has the right to be heard and not to be ground in shouting and interjections. Continue hon member.
IsiXhosa:
Nkskz N M MDAKA: Enkosi, Mhlali-ngaphambili. Andazi nokuba iintliziyo zenu zibuhlungu na xa i-ANC isisa iinkonzo ebantwini ngoba ndiniva nihlokoma kweloo cala ngoku, benithule ngoku bendingekathethi ngokusiwa kweenkonzo ebantwini. Izibekile ke i-ANC izigidi ezingama-R450 zokwenza indlela esemaphandleni aseMpuma Koloni aphakathi kweKomani noMthatha kuba incinci. Mhlawumbi bekumnandi ngoku bekusoloko kukho iingozi, kumane kubaliswa ukuba iimoto ziwile. Siyayixhasa le Voti yoHlahlo-lwabiwo-mali. Enkosi. [Kwaqhwatywa.]
Mr G R KRUMBOCK /UNH (Xh)/ NN (Eng) / GC /Eng/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 372
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,25 Apr 2012,"[Take-333333372] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][gs].doc"
Mrs N M MDAKA
Mr G R KRUMBOCK: Chairperson, Minister, the dead hand of inefficient and costly parastatals is hampering our nascent economic recovery. It slows the pace by which millions of our poor are being lifted into opportunity and into the middle class. It constricts delivery. It retards redress.
Chairperson, I have established that transport entities such as air, rail, freight and ports are not integrated parts of our transport, network. This said, exports and imports amount to 27% and 28% of our gross domestic product, GDP, respectively, according to recent statistics. This makes us even more of an export-driven trading nation in Australia, where the equivalent figures are 20% and 22% respectively.
Considering how important trade is to our country, it is astonishing how uncompetitive we are. The Financial Mail reports that our port authorities and operations are hampering rather than facilitating trade. Our very own ports regulator shows that Durban is the world's most expensive port.
Durban's average marine and infrastructure cost per ship, quoted last year, was $182 000 per container, compared to an average tariff of $86 000. And if that were not bad enough, it takes between five and seven days to discharge a ship in Durban, compared to just two in Rotterdam. So, our ports are not just costly, but our operations are also inefficient. Loading coal and iron ore for shipment as a niche port is clearly not the same as loading containers and general freight at eThekwini, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Metro. The latter is influenced by turnaround.
Inefficiencies are inevitable when one considers that the Transnet port authority is a state-sanctioned monopoly which is sheltered from the competitive pressures which private sector companies are forced to absorb. It leads to the unwelcome headlines we saw last year, where, for example, we read on 4 May that Durban was experiencing the worst delays in the entire history of containerisation.
An HON MEMBER: Shocking!
Mr G R KRUMBOCK: Our neighbouring states, however, understand what growing their market share in a very tough international economic environment takes. Both Maputo in Mozambique and Walvis Bay in Namibia have invested heavily in better productivity and are becoming more competitive. Both have private-public initiatives to improve facilities and break bottlenecks leading to their ports through a seamless integrated transport system.
Minister, it is refreshing that your predecessor was candid enough to admit that operational inefficiencies and low productivity levels in ports reduce our country's competitiveness. Equally, the DA welcomes the expansion of the Cape Town Container Terminal project and the President's announcement this year that substantial investments will be made to address these serious challenges.
We need to match this fiscal investment with a commitment from all stakeholders to transform our ports into hubs of low cost efficiency. Only then we will be able to attract sufficient volumes of business to drive our country forward on the locomotive of trade-driven growth.
Chairperson, Ecobank estimates that by 2013 sub-Saharan Africa will account for 12% of daily global oil supplies or 12 million barrels per day. As of last week, there were 71 rigs in West African waters out of 825 worldwide. Globally, there are only five to six major drilling and significant oil companies. They all understand the facilities and opportunities available in global shipyard. While South Africa is involved in projects of around $20 million, most of the larger conversions and projects take place in Singapore and Dubai. Bearing in mind the deviation costs and lost earnings involved in transporting rigs to these far-off destinations, it is absolutely in our interest to prove to the industry that we have the capacity and turnaround times to meet this demand in our own nearby harbors and service their needs.
However, our track record in this regard is poor. As recently as February this year, Transnet's inability to improve the harbour facility at Saldanha Bay forced at least one major foreign investor after 16 months of fruitless negotiation to withdraw their investments from the planned Saldanha Industrial Development Zone.
Airports Company South Africa, Acsa, is another parastatal that has a similarly suffocating stranglehold on the free movement and the expansion of opportunity to all our citizens. One needs to give credit where credit is due and say our shiny, spanking new airports were a major part of our unprecedented success in 2010 and that 4% of our post-World Cup tourism growth is due to these and other favourable impressions. However, while Acsa's credit ratings were revised from stable to positive in January, and its debt structure has improved with risk attributed as mid rage, leverage is still high, although reducing.
Like many other State-Owned Enterprises, SOE's, Acsa has substantial debts to service and repay arising from infrastructural improvements. In Acsa's case the capital costs of heavily upgraded airports at O R Tambo, eThekwini and Durban are the main drivers behind the huge tariff increases we have seen in the last few years, 69% last year, charges that International Air Transport Association, IATA, described as amongst the highest in the world. Indeed, IATA estimates that Acsa airports tariffs are set to rise by 161% in the next five years.
One appreciates that our highly geared state-owned enterprises are vulnerable to interest rate increases. However, surely the time has come to re-evaluate airport taxes bearing in mind that the outlook for interest rates appears stable for the rest of this year at least. It cannot be in our country's interest that the price sensitive tourism industry is subjected to continued price shocks by Acsa administered airport taxes just when the first signs of economic recovery are breaking the surface. Time for some market-related competition, or at least, a radical rethink on how transport-related entities need to be consolidated in order to increase efficiency and doing business in South Afrika. I thank you Chairperson. [Applause.]
Mr L SUKA / GG / (NP-ed) / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 372A
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,26 Apr 2012,"[Take 372A] [Old Assembly Main].doc"
Mr G R KRUMBOCK
IsiXhosa:
Mr L SUKA: Sihlalo wale Ndlu yoWiso-mthetho, baPhathiswa beli Sebe lezoThutho, Malungu ale Ndlu yoWiso-mthetho abalulekileyo, magosa nabasebenzi beli sebe akhokelwa yintloko yawo,ziindwendwe nani zindwalutho esinazo, phambi kokuba ndingene kule ntetho yam endiza kugxila kuyo, ndifuna ukuthi abaPhathiswa mabangaphazamiseki ngamaxoxo azakuxoxozela esemngxobhozweni,... [uwelewele.]... kufuneka niqine imiqolo, madoda, nixele amaqhawe afana nooDullah Ouma ngexesha ayekhokela eli sebe.
Le ngxoxo iza kanye xa umbutho wesizwe ugqiba iminyaka elikhulu uzelwe. Olu Hlahlo-lwabiwo-mali lukwinyanga ebalulekileyo, inyanga yamaqhawe, inyanga yenkululeko, nto leyo iza kufuna ukuba maxa wambi sibe ngathi siyagxanya ukuphucula ubomi babavoti, ingakumbi abo basibeke kwezi ndawo sikuzo. Kananjalo, njengoko senditshilo, ndifuna sibalule loo maqhawe abeka isiseko seli sebe phambili.
Ndifuna ukuncoma eli sebe kumahlelo athile ngokubhekisele kumgaqo othe waphuculwa wafana nezitalato zaseJerusalem, ezixelwa kumaculo ngamaculo eenkonzo. Lo mgaqo ndithetha ngawo ufana nomgaqo u-N2, ophaya eMpuma Koloni, e-Wild Coast. Le mbali ke iyaziwa ngabahlala kwela phondo.
Ndiyalincoma eli sebe ngokuthi lizise iinkonzo ebantwini. Amajikojiko namagophe ancitshiswe mpela, sihamba kweso sithabazi sendlela. Yanga ningenza njalo kuzo zonke iindlela zeli loMzantsi Afrika, ukuze sehlise izinga lokubhubha kwabantu bethu ezindleleni.
Ndifuna ukwenza isicelo, esibalulekileyo apha kwisebe, sokuba xa lisenza uHlahlo-lwabiwo-mali ngokubhekisele kwizithuthi ezifana neebhasi, isibonelelo semali noko masilingane okanye siphucuke. Ndisitsho nje, phaya eMpuma Koloni kukho le nkampani, iyi-Algoa Bus Company, efumana isixa esikhulu semali. Xa usiya ngaphesheya kwenciba, ukwenjenjeya ukuya kooMtata, kukho inkampani yebhasi ebizwa ngokuba yi-AB350, ukanti kweliya laseBisho kukho inkampani yebhasi ebizwa ngokuba yiMayibuye. Inene, izinga leebhasi lezi nkampani zimbini zokugqibela liyehla, kwaye alehli nje, liyancipha kuba aziyifumani ngokwaneleyo imali enokwenza ukuba abantu bezaa lali bathuthwe ngokulinganayo, njengoko besenza njalo abantu basezidolophini. Siyaqonda ke ukuba masiwuyizise ngaphambili lo mbandela.
Ndiza kugxila komnye umbandela wezakhona kweli loMzantsi Afrika, ingakumbi, njengoko amalungu ebesetshilo, kwezindawo zintathu, ezendlela, ezaselwandle kwakunye nezithuthi ezifana noololiwe. Apha siyayazi into yokuba eli setyana libizwa ngokuba yi-Passenger Rail Agency of SA, i-Prasa, lineenjongo ezinkulu yaye kukho isakhiwo kweliya laseRhawutini esibizwa ngokuba yiExcellent Park, apho bekufanele ukuba kulolongwa kuphuculwe izakhona zabantu.
Ndicela ukuba abantu bethu abamnyama abangenazo ezi zakhono, ngakumbi ezaselwandle, baye kwesi sakhiwo - nanjengoko sekutshiwo apha ukuba asinazo iinqanawa, kwaye isizathu soko kukuba asinazo iinjineli nabachweli, kanti ke ela sebe okanye la ...
English:
...institution can train and develop our people so that they can be able tobe assimilated or to be absorbed by the economy of the country. The second part of that, I think we need, also, to train some of our members of the community in that institution...
IsiXhosa:
... ekuthiwa yi Esselen ukuba bakwazi ukwenza oololiwe, ingakumbi nalapha koomama njengoko sisazi ukuba isininzi salapha eMzantsi Afrika ngabantu basetyhini. Abo bantu sibabeka ndawoni kolu phuculo lwezakhono zabo? Ndicinga ukuba kufuneka siphendule kulo nto xa sisonke. Apha kwezeNdlela ndifuna ukugxila kwi-SA National Roads Agency Limited, u-Sanral, kukho le nkqubo endiyithandayo, ebizwa ngokuba nguS'hamba Sonke, kuthiwa sihamba sonke. Andifuni ukuya kubuKrestu, kodwa iinjongo zikaS'hamba Sonke kukuphucula izakhono zabantu bethu. Kufuneka ke angqamane no-Sanral.
U-Sanral yenye yeenkqubo esinazo zokuphucula indlela zeli loMzantsi Afrika. Kodwa, u-Sanral makasebenzisane namaphondo kunye noomasipala bethu, ukwenzela ukuba ezi ndledlana nale milimandlela sinayo ezilalini iphele ngokuthi izakhono zithathwe kwaba bantu bakwa-Sanral bazise kumaphondo ethu nakoomasipala bethu. Ingapheleli apho, ikhatshwe yimali kuba kukho lo mthetho uthi ...
English:
... funds follow function. Once you train them, capacitate them and empower them, funds should follow so that those skills that they have acquired can be transferred to those two spheres of government, so that our roads can be improved nationally.
IsiXhosa:
Okulandelayo, iidolophu zethu ezingqamene nolwandle azinazo izakhono ezifunekayo ekwakheni ezi nqanawa, njengoko senditshilo. Okwesibini, iinqanawa zethu ezingenayo neziphumayo kula machweba ayizo zethu. Into urhulumente ayenzayo kukurhafisa ezo nqanawa zingenayo neziphumayo ngerhafu encinane kakhulu. Ndicinga ukuba lo mba ubusele uchatshazelwe.
Uqoqosho lwamazwe amaninzi luphuculwa ngala machweba kuba enezakhono ezifanele ezaselwandle. Amalwandle ethu awasebenzisani nezothutho lwezendlela okanye nezothutho ngoololiwe. Kungoko ke, zisithi malakhiwe eli ziko lokuqeqeshwa kwabantu bethu ngokubhekisele kwizakhono zaselwandle. [Kwaqhwatywa.]
Sihlalo, xa ndiza kujika, phaya emakhaya, ingakumbi kumaphondo, kukho le nkqubo ye-Prasa yokuthuthw kwabantwana besikolo. Ndithi andinakho ukuyishiya le indawo kuba andifuni ifane nembawula enamaxeba, kodwa lo mcimbi we...
English:
... scholar patrol is a very serious matter that affects the lives of our kids in various communities. Transport budget has been cut; some areas in our rural communities do not have the scholar transport. The negative effect of that, there is a huge or high rate of drop outs in schools because there is no transport. Let alone the feeding scheme. So, I would the Department of Transport to intervene as soon as possible on this matter of the scholar transport, including its policy. [Applause.]
IsiXhosa:
Xa ndiza kuyeka, ndiyafuna ukuthi kwisebe nentloko yalo maliqwalasele imigomo okanye izinto ezithethwa nguMphicothi-zincwadi Jikelele. UMphicothi-zincwadi Jikelele uyasilumkisa. Masizame ke ukuphepha eza zinto zivezwe phaya nguMphocothi-zincwadi Jikelele, endingenakho ukuzithetha ngoku. Ndiza kuzithetha phaya kubo nakwintloko yesebe ngexesha elifanelekileyo. Mabalungise ukuze xa uphela lo nyaka-mali sibe nengxelo yophicotho-zimali engenaziphene. Sibe ngabanye babantu abonyuliweyo kumasebe karhulumente.
English:
In conclusion, I would not want us not to be derailed by hon members, like Kganare. [Laughter.] I think is "Rharinathi". The issue here is that we will not follow the neoliberal approach in addressing the fundamental issues of this country. There is a particular programme that the ANC must follow through the national democratic revolution. We should not shy away from that. So, I'm saying, this matter of transforming the country needs level-headed people, serious people, and we should have an element of patriotism so that all of us can be winners. There should be no losers. I thank you. [Applause.]
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT / Nb/ END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 Takes: 373
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,26 Apr 2012,"Take 373 [Old Assembly Main].doc"
Mr L SUKA
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Chairperson and hon members, thank you very much for the contribution and the support. Let me first say that the support of what we call the transport family, which includes the national and provincial MECs and the members of municipal committees who deal with transport, is very tight, and we work very well together. It does start to show what has happened. We are building on the foundation that had been laid in the past.
Hon member Ollis, I want to make it very clear here that the foundation that was laid by former Minister Mac Maharaj, the foundation that was laid by the late former Minister Adv Dullah Omar, the foundation that was laid by Minister Jeff Radebe, is a solid foundation from which we move. [Applause.] There is no question of saying that it belonged to so and so. We are building on that and, whenever you start something new, there will always be problems. If you have never experimented with anything, nonracialism itself is an experiment, and there will be many pitfalls and so forth, but we know that nonracialism is correct.
Similarly, the issue of a nonracial and national democratic South Africa, I think all of us should have this national consciousness. It bleeds my heart when someone says that we should have one province developing at the expense of another. We want Gauteng to be the hub. We want Gauteng to be the pathfinder, to be the economic hub, not only of South Africa but leading into Africa as a whole. However, the elected leadership of Gauteng, because they come from a progressive tradition founded by our founders, who created what we now call a new country – a new country, it was the ANC. [Laughter.] Who created this new country?
We envisage that we will also reverse uneven development. Reversing uneven development doesn't mean that we say that Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban should halt. We say that out there in the Eastern Cape, in Sekhukhune, and in Mpumalanga, development must come up. That is what we are saying. Therefore, the decision that was taken by this House way back in 2007, long before the machines rolled in, was a decision that any Minister that was in charge had to take it seriously and say that there is now an agreement called the Gauteng Freeway Development Programme, GFDP. It didn't mean that there weren't going to be any problems, but we now move in, and that is why we say that 2007 was an agreement by all of us about GFDP. When the problems arise, let us not jump to the nearest door and say that the problem is someone else's problem. It is our problem; let's do like developed countries do – the United States and China. When they go through problems, they analyse the problem, like the Deputy Minister was doing here. Let's analyse the problem. Where are the pitfalls? Where are the weaknesses? Then we can move forward from that and correct those problems.
Last year, President Obama said that the question on how to develop transport infrastructure should be answered. This was said by the president of one of the most advanced countries in the world. He is still asking that question. This year, we are saying, through Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, that we will have an indaba which includes national, provincial, and local government, the private sector – everyone – to find an answer to the question of how we fund our water resources, our rail infrastructure, our transport infrastructure and all other telecommunication infrastructure, all of it. Let us all come to that with progressive ideas, as to whether we have seen what the pitfalls of whatever are. Let us then come to that situation and say that those are the specific problems that we see. Let us not be national when it suits us and become regional and very local, sometimes. As one member was saying, everybody knows that all roads lead to Gauteng. That is the not the perspective of this government. The government says that it will reverse uneven development but will not halt further advancement. [Interjections.] Yes, yes.
There should be a commitment in this House to one person, one vote, one value, meaning that a child in the Transkei, a child in Soweto, and a child in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg should all take for granted that they will go to school, meaning that there will a road to their schools, there will be water at school, and there will be electricity at school. That is what one person, one vote, one value means. That is what we need to be doing. We should not then come, because as we pass this Budget, who is going to say: Which road do you want stopped? Which project do you want stopped? If you have R20 billion to pay, it is already there, so it is not stolen. The road is there; you cannot roll it away like a carpet. Now, which project do you then need to stop in order to do that? I invite you to meet my colleagues in the provinces and say, "Eastern Cape, stop that," and to stop this one and that one.
Mr I M OLLIS: But they are doing it now!
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon members! Order!
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: That is what we need to know, that when you build on one side or you pay on one side, you must take from another side. It is this balance that we must arrive at and not turn away, against our own policies. I was happy when the DA said that they support tolling. All I am asking is that they say so publicly. [Laughter.] Don't go and park your big vans, as if there is an election campaign, at a case that is being heard, which we are not worried about. Then, suddenly, e-toll, my toll is my tax. You know it is not true. You know that if you toll was your tax, why is the person in Transkei not happy with that road, when he pays the tax? Why is the tax only paid for Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg? [Interjections.]
Mr I M OLLIS: Did the government go and ask them?
An HON MEMBER: Or are they wasting your time?
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: No, no, no! This government, this department, is ready to work out whatever might have gone wrong. We are able to correct it. This is a 28-year planning thing, funding and so forth. We can correct that. Let's put those things on the table and say correct that one, correct that one. We have corrected others in the past in the Airports Company of South Africa, Acsa, and other things. We have done that. Where we took a decision in a rush, we corrected it. So, there is no problem about that, but come to the table and come with a proposal. Don't come with taking us...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Minister, you have a minute to conclude.
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: I must therefore take this opportunity to also pay tribute to the traffic officers, particularly the traffic officer in Gauteng who was shot dead in the course of his duty, and that is terrible. We want to redouble our efforts with the MECs and all of us to ensure that we have safer roads, even this long weekend. Let us have the support but gear ourselves now. Let us discuss, as the President has invited us to the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee where... [Interjections.] Yes, it is an open discussion where we discuss how to fund infrastructure. We don't want politicking about that. We say, this is how we build it, and then we move forward on that. To the members, to the portfolio committee, to the Deputy Minister, to the officials who are working so hard, I want to thank them and ask them to work even harder. Any achievement calls on you to work even harder and redouble your effort. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
The Committee rose at 16:16.
/Mia / END OF TAKE
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