Hansard: NCOP: Motions

House: National Council of Provinces

Date of Meeting: 04 Jun 2012

Summary

No summary available.


Minutes

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TUESDAY, 5 JUNE 2012

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

_________________

The Council met at 14:07.

The Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, before we proceed I would like to announce the presence in the gallery of officials from the Indian parliament, Rajya Sabha. You are most welcome to the National Council of Province. [Applause.]

We are also expecting students from Harvard University, but they have not yet arrived. When they do, I will recognise their presence in the gallery.

NOTICES OF MOTION

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START OF DAY

NOTICES OF MOTION

Mr D V BLOEM: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf of Cope:

That the Council‑

notes the nonpayment of doctors' salaries and allowances at the Mthatha Hospital Complex by the Eastern Cape Health department; further notes that the Junior Doctors Association of SA says it is demoralising that at least 20 of the doctors at this hospital complex have received neither their basic salary and rural allowance nor overtime since December; notes even further that this dire position is indicative of a broader financial management issue; acknowledges that the Eastern Cape health department is in a financial crisis, with a budget shortfall of more than R2,5 billion, putting patients at risk; further acknowledges that this current position impacts severely on the quality of health care at the affected hospitals and impacts on the morale of medical staff; recognises that at the heart of the crisis were long-running issues with the department's salary bill, which has consistently overrun the amount budgeted at the start of the financial year; further recognises that I would like to express my disgust ... [Interjections.]; and calls upon the Minister of Health to urgently intervene, in order to address the incident and take appropriate action where it is required.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, there is only one-and-a-half minutes to move a motion. Please do not go beyond that.

Mr D A WORTH

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The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP

Mr D A WORTH: Hon Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf of the DA:

That the Council‑

notes that it is that time of the year when municipality and metro provincial budgets are formulated for the next financial year; further notes that Mangaung Metro in the Free State could see an increase in rates and taxes of up to and above 20% in respect of water, sanitation, refuse removal and property tax; appeals to the financial managers in the various municipalities to restrict any increases in rates and taxes to what is affordable for consumers; and notes even further that if wasteful and fruitless expenditure and corruption were eliminated there would be enough money to balance the budget with minimal increases.

Mr D D GAMEDE


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Mr D A WORTH

Mr D D GAMEDE: Chair, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the Council‑

notes with profound sadness the tragic death of 193 people on Sunday, 3 June 2012 in one of Nigeria's worst aviation disasters; further notes that 153 passengers on a Dana Air aeroplane died when their aeroplane plunged near the airport and hit a two-storey building in the heavily populated Iju Ishaga district, killing all 153 passengers and crew members, as well as 40 people on the ground; notes even further that several high-ranking military government officials and central bank bureaucrats were on board the plane, which was travelling from Abuja to Lagos, a journey of about 15 minutes; and takes this opportunity to convey its profound sadness and condolences to all the people of Nigeria.

Mr D B FELDMAN


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Mr D D GAMEDE

Mr D B FELDMAN: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf of Cope:

That the Council‑

debates the alleged rendition of South Africa's Gauteng Hawks, assisted by their Zimbabwean counterparts in the torture and murder of Zimbabwean dissidents; further debates the matter of at least six Zimbabwean nationals who were allegedly smuggled out of the country in October by members of the police tactical operational management services from Pretoria and Johannesburg and sent to Zimbabwe for interrogation or to be killed; and notes that the fact that these renditions could still be going on is a serious breach of the international human rights treaty that South Africa might have signed and is against the Constitution of this country.

Mr M W MAKHUBELA


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Mr D B FELDMAN

Mr M W MAKHUBELA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf of Cope:

That the Council‑

debates the cycle of mob killings and acts of vigilantism on the rise in our communities, especially in the Western Cape, where nine people were killed three weeks ago; further debates the conduct of the police at Nyanga Police Station, where, community members say, among other things, that police are not effective and, as a result, people went out to the streets to demonstrate against their ineffectiveness; and notes that the police's inability to deal with crime has led the community to taking the law into their hands.

Ms M W MAKGATE

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Mr M W MAKHUBELA

Ms M W MAKGATE: Hon Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:

That the Council‑

notes with the utmost apprehension a report by the Department of Basic Education, titled The Annual Survey for Ordinary Schools for 2009 to 2010, which shows that thousands of girls are falling pregnant each year; also notes that the latest report paints a grim picture of how pupils become mothers at an early age and how pregnancy is becoming increasingly common among girls in grade 3 to grade 5; further notes that the report by the Department of Basic Education shows that as many as 45 276 pupils in South Africa fell pregnant in 2009, and that the majority of pupils who fell pregnant in 2009 were in grades 10 and 11; notes even further that 109 pupils in grade 3 fell pregnant in 2009; 12 954 pupils in KwaZulu-Natal, 10 323 in Limpopo and 8 420 in the Western Cape fell pregnant in 2009; acknowledges that the disconcertingly high number of teenage pregnancies in South Africa is an unwarranted national problem that requires urgent attention by government and society, especially parents and families; and calls on government, the people of South Africa, civil society, churches and nongovernmental organisations to join hands in waging a concerted fight against teenage pregnancy and ensure that those who violate our children and expose them to gratuitous antics intended to violate their rights, dignity and future are exposed and shunned by society.

Mr S H PLAATJIE


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Ms M W MAKGATE

Mr S H PLAATJIE: Chair, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf of Cope:

That the Council‑

debates the continued maladministration in municipalities of the North West province; and further debates whether or not the targeted municipalities that have been placed under administration have benefited from the turnaround strategies that have been implemented.

Mr G G MOKGORO


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Mr H S PLAATJIE

Mr G G MOKGORO: Chair, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:

That the Council‑

notes that next Tuesday, 12 June, marks 48 years since the sentencing of former President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, on 12 June 1964, to life imprisonment on spurious charges that were intended to undermine the National Democratic Revolution, a quest to fight against all forms of racial discrimination and suppression of our people; further notes that former President Mandela was charged with 11 other ANC leaders, including Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Ahmed Kathrada, Billy Nell, Dennis Goldberg, Lionel Rusty Bernstein, Arthur Goldreich, Harold Wolpe and James Jimmy Kantor in a trial that later became known across the globe as the Rivonia Trial; notes even further that former President Nelson Mandela and seven other co-defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment in Robben Island; acknowledges that the stand taken by former President Mandela and his co-defendants was indeed a bold step that crystallised our resolve to wage a considered fight against apartheid and eventually bring freedom to our people; and takes this moment to express its profound appreciation to these great warriors of our people for their resilience and unequivocal stance against the discrimination, abuse and violation of our people by the apartheid regime.

Mr M J R DE VILLIERS


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Mr G G MOKGORO

Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Hon Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move on behalf of the DA:

That the Council‑

notes that it is most alarming that 5 000 women die while pregnant or within 24 days after giving birth in South Africa, according to the Saving Mothers report; further notes that nonpregnancy-related infections, NPRIs, are a cause for 45% of these deaths; notes even further that respiratory failure accounts for 64% and cerebral complications for 17,9% of the death of these mothers; also notes that HIV infections were the most common contributors to these NPRI causes, that is 87,3%; and recognises that it is therefore very important for the health sector to train all health care workers in maternity care and ensure 24-hour access to functioning emergency obstetric care.

Mr Z MLENZANA


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Mr M J R De Villiers

Mr M J R DE VILLIERS

Mr Z MLENZANA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting of the Council I shall move on behalf of Cope:

That the Council-

debates- the disappearance of millions of rands of international and local donor funds at the University of KwaZulu-Natal; the missing millions of rands of grant money for HIV/Aids research and the legacy of alleged dirty tricks, racism, nepotism and financial maladministration at the University of KwaZulu-Natal; and how the allegations of fraud earmarked for this development has affected continued research and development, as well as the training of young black scientists in this field, especially as it focused on the worst Aids-affected region in the world.

Mr J J GUNDA


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Mr Z MLENZANA

DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SPRINGBOK COACH

(Draft Resolution)

Afrikaans:

Mnr J J GUNDA: Voorsitter, ek stel sonder kennisgewing voor:

Dat die Raad-

sy misnoeë en teleurstelling in die Springbokafrigter, Heyneke Meyer, uitspreek dat hy vir Siya Kolisi onder die Springbokgroep het, maar nie in die Engelse Toetsreeks speel nie; kennis neem dat dit 'n skande is om een van die toekomstige sterre nie hierdie geleentheid te gun, terwyl hy nou een van die beste voorspelers in Super Rugby is nie en hy iemand is wat op meriete homself bewys het; vra wat Siya Kolisi nog moet doen om die eerste 15 te haal en of hy vir die Bulle moet speel, asook Gio Aplon en Juan De Jongh, wat hy nie eers gekies het nie; en

English:

furthermore congratulates Safa on their long overdue decision to fire Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane, on whom millions have been wasted.

In the light of the objection the motion may not be proceeded with. The Motion without Notice will now become a Notice of Motion.

Ms B V MNCUBE


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Mr J J GUNDA

THE 12TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL TEACHING AWARDS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION

(Draft Resolution)

Ms B V MNCUBE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

notes that the Department of Basic Education celebrated the 12th anniversary of its National Teaching Awards this year; further notes that Mr Mmipe George Mokgehle of Toronto Primary School in Limpopo received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his innovative lessons in Technology and Computers; and takes this opportunity to congratulate Mr Mokgehle for his outstanding achievement and his continued passion for education.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

Mr A LEES


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Ms B V MNCUBE

ALLEGED ASSAULT OF MR NKABINDE

(Draft Resolution)

Mr A LEES: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

notes with grave concern that more than a year after the alleged assault of Mr Nkabinde by members of the public order policing unit in Newcastle on 25 April 2011, the Minister of Police has replied to a written question to indicate that no suspects have been identified and that he has asked the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Ipid, to review the docket; further notes that this alleged assault took place in the Nkabinde home in the presence of his children and allegedly included the assault of his daughter by male members of the South African Police Service public order policing unit, who dragged the 19-year-old daughter naked from the bathroom, as well as the spraying of Mr Nkabinde's family with pepper spray; and therefore calls upon the Minister of Police to ensure that the suspects are identified and that the case is fully investigated and, if guilty, the culprits are made to face the full force of the law.

In the light of the objection the motion may not be proceeded with. The Motion without Notice will now become a Notice of Motion.

Mrs M C DIKGALE


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Mr A LEES

MURDER OF A FEMALE TRAIN DRIVER

(Draft Resolution)

Mrs M C DIKGALE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

notes with profound sadness the brutal murder of a woman train driver at the Makhado railway station in Limpopo in the early hours of Monday, 4 June 2012; further notes that the 47-year-old female train driver was attacked and brutally murdered while she and her assistant were walking home, after completing their shift; condemns in the strongest possible terms the brutal and senseless killing of the train driver by heartless criminals who continue to instil a great sense of fear in our people; and calls on the people of Limpopo and South Africa at large to join the concerted and vigorous fight against crime and the victimisation of women in our society by cold-hearted thugs who have no regard for human life.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

Mr C J DE BEER


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Mrs M C DIKGALE

ATM BOMBINGS IN THE WESTERN CAPE

(Draft Resolution)

Mr C J DE BEER: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

notes with the utmost concern that 18 ATMs have been attacked in the Western Cape province since January this year; further notes that over R5 million has been lost as a result of the ATM bombings; condemns in the harshest possible terms the thuggery and hooliganism displayed by people who use every desperate means to endanger the lives of our people and destroy property that is intended to benefit our people; and takes this opportunity to congratulate the police on their tireless efforts to bring the perpetrators of these callous crimes to face the full might of the law.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I now take this opportunity to acknowledge the students from Harvard University in the gallery. Welcome to the NCOP and South Africa. [Applause.]

Mr T L MAKUNYANE

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Mr C J DE BEER

SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE OF 35-YEAR-OLD LUDWICK MAMABOLO

(Draft Resolution)

Mr T L MAKUNYANE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

notes with utmost humility and pride the spectacular performance of 35-year-old Ludwick Mamabolo, who became the first South African to win the Comrades Marathon since 2005; further notes that another South African, 29-year-old Bongmusa Mthembu, representing KwaZulu-Natal, clinched the second title of this prestigious ultra marathon of approximately 90 kilometres between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg that has attracted some of the best athletes from across the globe, particularly from the African continent; and congratulates all the comrades, especially all the athletes from the shores of our land, who demonstrated the utmost resilience to lift our national flag.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

Mr D JOSEPH


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Mr T L MAKUNYANE

EMPTY ELECTION PROMISES OF MINISTER MARIUS FRANSMAN

(Draft Resolution)

Mr D JOSEPH: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

requests that Minister Marius Fransman, who was MEC for Transport in the Western Cape, explains his 2009 empty election promises, in which he promised to make the station accessible to disabled and handicapped persons, to the people of Mandalay, near Mitchells Plain; notes that under the leadership of Minister Fransman, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa was mandated to upgrade the station at a cost of R9 million; and calls on the Western Cape government and the national Department of Transport to investigate why Minister Fransman failed to build facilities for disabled and handicapped persons at Mandalay Station and calls on national government to provide funding for the project.

In the light of the objection the motion may not be proceeded with. The Motion without Notice will now become a Notice of Motion.

Mr K A SINCLAIR


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Mr D JOSEPH

UNEMPLOYMENT OF THE YOUTH

(Draft Resolution)

Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

notes the absence of corporate South Africa's involvement in an aggressively cohesive youth development and job creation empowerment programme; further notes that South Africa's official unemployment figures of 25% overall has South Africa's youth as being the most affected, especially those between the ages of 14 and 25 years of age; and acknowledges the absence of recreation, community service and key leadership fundamentals, including skills development that would provide quality skills for young people to be engaged in.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

Mr V M MANZINI


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Mr K A SINCLAIR

SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE OF 35-YEAR-OLD LUDWICK MAMABOLO

(Draft Resolution)

Mr V M MANZINI: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council notes that Ludwick Mamabolo broke the foreign stranglehold on the Comrades Marathon by winning the 89 kilometre down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on Sunday.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! Hon member, that motioned has been moved. I did not allow you to move a second motion.

Mr S S MAZOSIWE


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Mr V M MANZINI

THE 29TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF REV CANON JAMES ARTHUR CALATA

(Draft Resolution)

Mr S S MAZOSIWE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council-

notes that – next week Saturday, 16 June, marks the 29th anniversary of the death of Rev Canon James Arthur Calata, who was the General Secretary of the ANC in the late 1940s and early 1950s; Rev Calata was born in 1895 in Nxarhumi village in the Eastern Cape, where he trained as a teacher and subsequently taught at St Matthew's College in Keiskammahoek in the Eastern Cape before he was ordained as an Anglican priest at the cathedral in Grahamstown; Rev Calata was one of the selfless servants of our people who joined the illustrious list of church leader who worked tirelessly for the liberation and who used his talent as a composer to express his strong sentiments and yearning for freedom in songs that characterised the fight against apartheid in South Africa; all his hymns, freedom songs and writings were confiscated by the security forces to deflate his determination and later used as part of the 1956 Rivonia Trial; and takes this opportunity to pay homage to this great stalwart of our people for his tireless efforts to fight for our freedom and liberation.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

MOTION 1 ON ORDER PAPER

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MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

EXTENSION OF DEADLINE FOR REPORT OF AD HOC COMMITTEE ON CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT AND REGULATIONS ON JUDGE'S DISCLOSURE OF REGISTRABLE INTERESTS

(Draft Resolution)

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, I move the motion as printed in my name on the Order Paper.

Question put: That the motion be agreed to.

IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape.

Motion accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

MOTION 2 ON ORDER PAPER


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MOTION 1 ON ORDER PAPER

CRIMIMAL LAW (SEXUAL OFFENCES AND RELATED MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILL

(Draft Resolution)

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, I move the motion as printed in my name on the Order Paper.

Question put: That the motion be agreed to.

IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape.

Motion accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

FIRST ORDER

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MOTIONS ON ORDER PAPER

APPROPRIATION BILL

(Policy Debate)

Debate on Budget Vote No 37 – Transport:

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Minister, there is a beautiful and wonderful podium here. You can use it freely. We all want to see your face. [Interjections.] I think they set the time for you there. When you see red, your time has expired. [Laughter.] [Interjections.]

The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Hon Chairperson and members of the NCOP, Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr Jeremy Cronin, MECs for transport, including MEC Robin Carlisle from the Western Cape and Mr Thembinkosi Mchunu from KwaZulu-Natal, all MECs present, hon Chairperson and members of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and other members present, Department of Transport's Director-General, Mr George Mahlalela, and other leaders of government present, please allow me to start by expressing my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the people of Nigeria, who have been visited by tragedy. As you may be aware, all 153 people on board the commercial airliner that was flying between Abuja and Lagos, as well as four civilians on the ground, died when it crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood in the capital on Sunday. It is indeed a tragic end to life and our thoughts are with the government and people of Nigeria as they observe a 72-hour mourning period.

Back to the business of the day, it is an honour for me to once again present the Department of Transport's Budget Vote for 2012-13 before this House. The NCOP is an important House, representing the views and aspirations of our people in all the nine provinces. It is a critical instrument of our democracy that seeks to ensure that the needs of our people, particularly those residing in geographically marginalised communities, are given attention at all times.

Provinces and municipalities are at the coalface of service delivery. Having spent at least 15 years as a member of the provincial executive myself, I have a better understanding of the importance of the NCOP in ensuring efficient service delivery. It is for this reason that we are currently in the process of strengthening provincial and municipal capacity to efficiently deliver on the identified transport infrastructure programmes. We work from the premise that this partnership with the NCOP goes beyond just mere co-operative governance between ourselves as institutions of the state. I stand here today to present the Department of Transport budget for 2012-2013 amounting to almost R39 billion.

I do so with the expectation that you will sincerely engage us on the future direction of transport in our country. Of this budget allocation, R17,3 billion is earmarked for roads and public transport programmes in provinces and municipalities. An amount of R7,9 billion has been set aside for provincial roads, part of which - R489 million - is for disaster management and R663 400 million goes towards the coal haulage network in Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

We have allocated R9,7 billion for the South African National Roads Agency Limited. It is important to note that this allocation is not part of the conditional grant issued to provinces. It is also in addition to the R5,75 billion that we committed towards the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project earlier this year.

One of the crucial elements of a functional economy is an efficient public transport system. We continue to make strides in ensuring that all South Africans have access to efficient, reliable and safe public transport. We have therefore allocated R9,3 billion for this very important function, broken down into R4,9 billion for municipal public transport infrastructure and R4,3 billion for provincial public transport subsidies. In addition to these conditional grants to the provinces, we intend making additional investments to provinces through the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordination Commission. His Excellency President Jacob Zuma announced towards the end of 2011 the establishment of the PICC –infrastructure development co-ordination machinery that seeks to address all challenges related to the roll-out of infrastructure in our country. While there is a natural expectation that National Treasury would increase budget allocations for infrastructure development to support our ambitions, a sizeable portion of this funding will be through leveraging private sector investment, mainly through our state-owned companies.

The current ANC policy discussion document offers a view on the question of infrastructure funding. It states:

Composition of expenditure should be changed in favour of infrastructure development. It is going to be difficult to finance infrastructure initiatives from the fiscus only; thus the question of infrastructure funding and appropriate pricing of infrastructure is key. It would be important for employment creation and for long-term economic growth prospects that infrastructure expenditure be clearly funded through a combination of fiscal allocations, borrowing and user fees.

The main transport project to be funded through the fiscus will be the much anticipated new rolling stock acquisition programme of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, which has a budget of R139 billion attached to it. I see the chief executive officer of Prasa is attached to this House. This programme will ensure that we position rail as the backbone of public transport in our country.

South Africa is poised for a major infrastructure shake-up. In the coming years, our country will virtually be turned into a construction site, with gigantic cranes occupying the skyline. This major infrastructure drive will bring with it economic spin-offs, including the creation of sustainable jobs and other economic opportunities.

However, more importantly, the new face of South Africa, beyond the drilling and digging, will be one that will position our country as an investment destination of choice and ensure that we stand shoulder to shoulder and compete with the best in the world, improving road and rail systems in Lephalale and the Moloto Corridor, as well as rail services in Mpumalanga linking the coal line to Richards Bay in the provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. I'm glad to announce that the work of the steering committee assigned to the Moloto Corridor project is at an advanced stage. The team is expected to report back to me on the outcome of their feasibility study by the end of the year. This committee comprises all the critical role players in this project, including the provinces of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and their key municipalities.

The second key project is in the KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Gauteng Corridor through the improvement of rail-road networks as part of the Durban-Gauteng Corridor development initiative, the upgrading of the N2 in the Eastern Cape, which is set to improve mobility and access of all the coastal provinces to the Western Cape, and the North West strategic infrastructure programme, which has as its main focus the upgrading of their main road networks.

Our provincial departments have been hard at work to ensure efficient delivery in our three important areas of service delivery: roads, public transport and road safety. However, all transport authorities at provincial and municipal levels continue to experience challenges with insufficient funding, capacity and compromised technical standards in road construction. The challenge moving forward is therefore to continue focusing on mobilising the required resources for roads and public transport, strengthening technical capacity in all transport authorities and putting in place monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that standards are adhered to without compromise.

Please allow me to briefly share with you some of the critical interventions we are making. In terms of road infrastructure, our road programme must, as a matter of priority, address provincial economic development, urban mobility and rural access. As we reported last year, we launched the new road maintenance programme called S'hamba-Sonke and, a year after implementation, we are reporting successes in many provinces. There is still a lot that needs to be done. Based on information received from provinces to date, I can report that the total collective expenditure by provinces through S'hamba-Sonke for 2011-2012 was R5,9 billion, against a target of R6,4 billion, representing 92% expenditure. During the first year of this programme, a total of 60 089 full-time equivalent jobs were created against the original target of 70 000. We are currently in the process of finalising several interventions to address capacity and other related challenges experienced by provinces. To this effect, we have finalised a project delivery support mechanism with Sanral for all provinces. We are establishing a project management unit through Sanral to provide support to affected provinces.

The S'hamba Sonke budget allocation for the next medium-term expenditure framework is R25 billion, and the allocation for 2012-2013 is R8 billion. The budget for this programme is allocated as follows: R1,3 billion for the Eastern Cape, R1,5 billion for KwaZulu-Natal, R1,1 billion for Limpopo, R1,2 billion for Mpumalanga, R564 million for the Free State, R579 million for Gauteng, R594 million for the North West Province, R478 million for the Western Cape and R483 million for the Northern Cape.

In addition to the above allocation, Sanral is currently undertaking the development of the Durban North Coast Interchange project, worth R64 million, and also the Mdloti-Tongaat project, worth R51 million. We are also working on the Ventersburg to Kroonstad road upgrade, for which R147 million has been allocated. The Harrismith to Kestell road is also being upgraded at a cost of R42 million during this financial year. Of course, there is also the Sitebe-Komkhulu to Viedgesville Road on the N2 in the Eastern Cape at a cost of R341 million.

We need to measure our performance on whether our communities have access to schools, clinics, economic opportunities and other social amenities. Part of this will be our commitment to a 100% target of rural access to schools, clinics and economic centres by 2014. We are saying there should be no school, clinic or economic centre that cannot be reached by 2014. In simple terms, this means we will be running while everyone walks. In our main urban centres, our focus is on the challenge of congestion and the development of integrated municipal, provincial and national networks. It still begs the question: How do we fund our road infrastructure?

Our policy discussion – I am quoting from the ANC policy discussion – says the following, and I think this is important:

Our economic transformation programme seeks to promote a geographically inclusive economy. This will require that infrastructure development be rolled out in targeted areas in a phased manner, especially in former homelands. In this context, we must optimize the investments that we have already made in the establishment of Industrial Development Zones through special determinations relating to incentives, access to adequate and affordable basic inputs such as electricity, water and roads.

On public transport, additional investment is still required in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Tshwane. We will continue to make these interventions. Through Prasa's new rolling stock acquisition programme, we aim to restore Metrorail services to their best levels by ensuring that the infrastructure is of acceptable standards and therefore improve on the efficiency of the train services, including introducing new advanced technology. However, there are still major public transport challenges in many small towns and rural areas. Subsidised public transport contracts remain bus-only contracts, and the majority of them have been managed on a month-to-month basis. As a result of the short-term nature of these contracts, most operators have not been able to recapitalise their fleet on the long term.

There is a general agreement within the transport family that the current bus contracts should be renewed through a managed negotiated process. These negotiations will be with existing operators, with provisions for taxi empowerment. This approach will allow for a progressive replacement of current bus contracts and the phased implementation of additional route networks based on new approved integrated municipal transport plans.

I am happy to announce that at the recent meeting between all MECs of Transport and me, we reached an agreement on the need to enter into negotiations with bus operators regarding longer-term contracts. The MinMec established a committee that would provide oversight and monitor the negotiation processes. Provinces and affected municipalities will manage negotiation processes. We intend to finalise these processes by the end of the current financial year.

Another critical area that has been receiving our attention is the finalisation of the scholar transport policy. We have been in discussions with the Department of Basic Education in a bid to find an amicable solution to this challenge. Currently, there is a disjuncture in the location of this function in different provinces. In five provinces, the function lies with the departments of transport, while in four other provinces, it is with the departments of basic education. The general understanding emerging from our discussions is that the Department of Transport should be the custodian of this policy and function. The proposed new policy approach on this matter will be brought before the Portfolio Committee on Transport and the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education.

Let me start by acknowledging South African drivers and road users for their positive contribution towards reducing road fatalities in our country. We are of the view that a culture of personal responsibility is beginning to define the character of the South African driver; a culture that says "road safety begins with me". South Africa is a signatory to the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. Through the initiative, we have committed to reducing road fatalities by 50% by 2020. I'm glad to say that in South Africa, we are well on our way to achieving this target. I say this because we have been able to reduce the number of deaths on our roads during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, during the 2011 December holidays and during the recent Easter long-weekend break, where the death toll came down remarkably from 297 to 181.

This is by no means a cause for celebration, but it says to us that it is possible and we should continue to work with government, through the Friends of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, to do even better. We have introduced the Friends of the Decade of Action group as part of maintaining momentum in the implementation of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The purpose of the group is to roll out Decade of Action campaigns. We have so far seen several campaigns implemented under this banner, in partnership with the Department of Transport, including the iPledge campaign with Imperial Holdings, the Think Pedestrian campaign in partnership with Equestria Fleet Management, and the first-aid training programme for taxi drivers with the South African National Taxi Council, among others. We invite other private sector players to come on board and play their role in reducing road fatalities. Working together, we can do more.

In conclusion, it is important that we work closely with all our provinces and municipalities to ensure that we achieve the targets we have set ourselves on road infrastructure development, public transport and road safety. This co-ordination is very important because, indeed, the realisation of our plans for transport is dependent on the successful execution of these targets. I therefore urge all parties concerned to join hands with us and ensure that we work together for the betterment of the living conditions of our people.

Chairperson and members, I now request this House to support the Budget of the Department of Transport for the year 2012-13. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, just before I call the next speaker, I just want to make two rulings on points of order raised during the last sitting.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP – RULING


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The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

UNPARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE

(Ruling)

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, I would like to clarify a ruling I made on a point of order raised by hon Mnguni during the speech made by Mr Fritz, THE special delegate from the Western Cape, on Tuesday, 29 May 2012. The hon member objected to a statement made by hon Fritz, when he said that hon Mabe was talking nonsense. I made a ruling and said the statement was unparliamentary. I ordered the hon member to withdraw the statement, which he did.

Hon members, I thought I should clarify this ruling, because the word "nonsense" may not necessarily amount to unparliamentary language. However, the context and the tone in which the word is said may amount to unparliamentary language, as was the case with Mr Fritz. I hope members will understand that in some instances certain words may not necessarily be ruled unparliamentary, depending on the circumstances in which such words are said.

The second ruling I would like to make relates to the point of order raised by hon Bloem during the parliamentary plenary on Tuesday, 29 May 2012. The hon delegate asked whether it is parliamentary for an hon member to ask hon Adams what he had smoked. [Laughter.] Order!

Hon delegates, section 71 of the Constitution provides that there shall be freedom of speech and debate in and before this House, which is subject only to the restrictions placed on such freedom. Rule 30 gives effect to this constitutional provision. One of the restrictions on the right of freedom of speech is enunciated in Rule 46, which states that no delegate may use offensive or unbecoming language in the House. It is encumbent on the delegate to refrain from making personal remarks that could be regarded as offensive by individuals, delegates or certain sections of the House.

It is unparliamentary for delegates to cast personal aspersions on the integrity of any delegate. I have consulted the Hansard records and hon Worth had, in fact, said he wanted to know whether hon Adams had been smoking something. [Laughter.] Order, Mr Tau! If aspersions cast directly or by inference are generally accepted during the debate in the Council, it may undermine the image of the institution and the dignity of delegates. I appeal to delegates to give some thought to their utterances and always be mindful of the decorum of the House and the dignity of fellow delegates. I therefore find that the remark was unparliamentary.

Mr M P SIBANDE


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The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP - RULING

Mr M P SIBANDE: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Mr Ndebele, hon Deputy Minister Cronin and hon members, the ANC's 52nd national conference characterised our emerging developmental state as one that must maintain its strategic role in shaping the key sectors of the economy, including the national transport and logistics system. It went on to declare that while the form of state intervention would differ, the overriding objective would be to intervene strategically in transport to drive growth in the economy and, more broadly, development.

Road freight transport has expanded rapidly since the deregulation of the industry in 1989. This has caused deterioration of roads while, at the same time, historic decisions to cut back on the operation of the rail network made road transport the default choice. Factors contributing to the decline of freight rail were the lack of flexibility in service, offering insufficient investment in network and rolling stock, and a lack of customer focus.

Although South Africa has an extensive road network, which is a significant economic and social asset, this network is rapidly deteriorating. The secondary and tertiary road networks, which were not designed for heavy freight, are under significant pressure from high freight volumes and their use by transporters as alternative routes. The lack of efficient rail freight services therefore poses a major challenge to the South African economy in terms of the cost of logistics. The proportion of long-haul road freight is growing from year-to-year with increasing usage of road haulage for primary and bulk commodities due to speed, convenience, security and the lack of rail flexibility to handle general freight.

The Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission identifies Mpumalanga and the North West as having serious challenges around safety and infrastructure. Much of it has to do with the movement of heavy-duty trucks causing huge damage to road infrastructure. Despite a growth in allocations to provincial authorities, the road network continues to deteriorate. This leads to increased logistics costs and reduced economic efficiencies. Costs are raised in the form of higher vehicle maintenance and repairs, damage to cargo, greater fuel consumption, delays and accelerated road and environmental damage.

I can attest that the condition of roads in my constituency, the area of Bethal, is disgraceful. Roads that are supposed to have been repaired are not, and most are heavily potholed. The lack of a railway in the Emalahleni and Msukalikwa regions should be addressed. Clearly, there is an urgent need to resolve long-standing challenges in the road freight environment, as well as enabling improvement of the overall logistics system, and to promote the integration of the various transport modes to enable a more efficient transport system and the shift of freight from road to rail.

When the ANC says we must build bridges in the rural areas, the DA does not see the need. Instead, they see this as another way of misusing taxpayers' money. It is a fact that in certain areas, such as Msinga...

IsiZulu:

...ngaphezu koThukela ...

English:

... in KwaZulu-Natal there is a clear need to build a proper bridge for the people. The same applies to Limpopo province. I am reminded of Kgatiyamoshate High School in the Moshate area and also in Bushbuckridge in Green Valley and Moloto where early this year there were floods and four children were killed. People are exposed to floods during heavy rains. When these poor children are drowning, perhaps to the DA this is another form of baptism. [Interjections.]

The same applies when we talk about developing our rural roads infrastructure. People in Enkandla in KwaZulu-Natal, Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape and Mpakeni in Mpumalanga - they too need to be connected to economic activities. Here in the Western Cape, residents of black townships in particular, such as Emakhaza and Philippi, are up in arms protesting for service delivery. When these calls are made by our people, all that the DA can do is to turn a blind eye. Their wish is for the status quo of these areas to remain, and I quote: "Hlala kwabafileyo." [Laughter.]

When the ANC says we must revive the railway networks in Hanover and De Aar in the Northern Cape, and fast-tracking – this is a process - the Moloto Corridor in Mpumalanga, the DA can only say: "Mr Zuma, this is a waste of resources, and we advise you not to stand for a second term." Is it because the people who stand to benefit from these developments are second-class citizens? I certainly do not believe that is the case. They are the people who put this government into power and therefore have a legitimate expectation of quality service delivery that will better their lives.

While we have such a huge responsibility to transform the living conditions of our people in order for them to fully realise their freedom, the DA is busy bringing stones into the Chamber, organising marches and renting black faces to throw them at Cosatu buildings. I want to warn them by reminding them of a song by the legendary Peter Tosh, which says: "If you live in a glass house, don't throw stones."

The very same President Zuma - and some people might not know that he was among the people who started "talks about talks" even before Codesa - was also involved in organising the people of uMkhonto weSizwe to abstain from the use of armed force.

IsiZulu:

Namhlanje kunabogombela kwesakhe, nemisheshelengwane yamabhoxongwane asekwazi ngisho nokumkhaphela uMongameli uZuma ngokudweba imifanekiso eveza izitho zakhe zangasese. Konke loku bakwenza ngoba bona bezibona ukuthi yibo bodwa abanamalungelo ngaphezu kwabanye abantu. Lokhu kungasethusi ngoba zizibona amaphiko ukundiza kanti azindizi zonke. Kwabanye babo sebafelwa onembeza. Ungabona umfanekiso womzimba kanti sekusele ugebhezi lodwa nje.

English:

"The goose that laid the golden egg is killed."

Hon Minister, we are concerned about the realignment of the taxi industry in municipalities - for example, in the Govan Mbeki area in Mpumalanga. The Free State cross-border dispute remains a major cause for concern. We urge the Department of Transport to move with speed in resolving challenges around legislative competence. The run-down road infrastructure will be inherited by the future generations of South Africans if nothing is done about it now. It is, however, clear that there is a commitment to the building of a modern and sustainable transport network that connects communities and supports the economy. This is indeed a challenge when set against the backdrop of the country's inherited road and rail backlogs. The top priority is to tackle the legacy of backlogs and this budget allocation strives to achieve exactly that objective.

Again, on the issue of e-tolls, some people thought we were not moving. We are the people who championed e-tolls. They have forgotten that before 2010 we were the ones who were busy consulting with the people but now it seems as if they are the ones who are championing it. I was so happy with the secretary of the SA Communist Party when he spoke about the alliance yesterday and projected exactly that it was a mistake. Not to say we are doing nothing – we are the people who are championing that. We are the people who are going to the people, unlike the others. The ANC supports Vote No 37 - Transport.

Mr H GROENEWALD

UNREVISED HANSARD

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Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 27


Mr M P SIBANDE

Afrikaans:

Mnr H B GROENEWALD: Agb Adjunkvoorsitter, agb Minister, Adjunkminister, agb lede van die NRVP en agb gaste, die meeste paaie in Suid-Afrika is in chaos gedompel. Daar word geen leiding deur die Departement van Vervoer aan die provinsies gegee oor hoe om hul begrotings in Suid-Afrika te bestee nie ... [Tussenwerpsels.] ... en hoe om Suid-Afrika se paaie weer op standaard te kry nie.

Die manier en wyse waarop tenders aan kontrakteurs toegeken word, laat die belastingbetaler in Suid-Afrika koud. [Tussenwerpsels.] Dit het 'n nagmerrie vir enige vervoerkontrakteur geword om sy vragmotors op Suid-Afrika se paaie te laat ry om die ekonomie van die land te help ontwikkel en 'n positiewe bydrae te lewer tot sekere streke in ons land, veral die landelike gebiede.

Die slegte toestand van paaie in die Noordwes en 'n gebrek aan vervoer om produkte by die markte te kry, is van die faktore wat ontluikende boere kniehalter. As gevolg van swak vervoer en lang afstande eindig ontluikende boere se produkte op by plaashekverkope en verloor hulle voeling met die werklike markeise.

Paaie in die Noordwes, tussen Ottosdal en Delareyville, Sannieshof en Ottosdal, Wolmaranstad en Schweizer-Reneke is van die swakste paaie in die land, en dit is al vir baie jare so. [Tussenwerpsels.]

Die tolpad tussen Mahikeng en Swartruggens, met sy hoë tolgeld, is onaanvaarbaar vir die padverbruiker en is van die duurste in Suid-Afrika. Ná die 2010 Sokker Wêreldbeker het die Mandela metropool, Port Elizabeth, R100 miljoen se busse op 'n parkeerterrein getrek. Die busse staan en vergaan nou al vir twee jaar in die son, sonder om gebruik te word. Wat 'n skande om die belastingbetaler se geld so te vermors! Dit is geld wat op die verbetering van paaie bestee kon word.

Die agb Minister praat van 'n vervoerdroom vir die mense van Suid-Afrika met die implimentering van 'n beter vervoerstelsel vir passasiers, waarvoor R10 biljoen na Prasa gaan, terwyl R18 biljoen vir paaie na Sanral en die S'Hamba Sonke program gaan. Verder is R5 biljoen geoormerk vir openbare vervoer en R5 biljoen vir bus-snelvervoer en die taxi-herkapitaliseringsprogram.

Die DA wil weet hoe dit moontlik is dat die Wes-Kaap se paaie in die algemeen baie beter is as dié in die res van Suid-Afrika. [Tussenwerpsels.] Die Wes-Kaap se begroting is pro rata nie groter as enige ander provinsie s'n nie. Dit gaan hier oor beter beplanning; eerlike amptenare wat trots op hul werk is; die opleiding van amptenare; die bekamping van korrupsie in die departement; 'n politieke wil om 'n diens te lewer tot voordeel van sy kiesers in die provinsie; en 'n Minister wat weet hoe 'n begroting werk en sy werknemers kan motiveer en trots maak op hul werk.

Ek weet nie waar die agb lid daaraan kom om oor ander provinsies te praat waar die DA invloed het nie. Die DA het geen invloed op die ander provinsies nie, want die ANC regeer in daardie provinsies. [Tussenwerpsels.]

'n Departement van Vervoer met 'n begroting van R48 biljoen moet die kundigheid in sy geledere hê om sy begroting met die nodige trots te hanteer. Die ekonomie van Suid-Afrika kan nie flaters soos die e-tolstelsel in Gauteng bekostig nie. Sulke gebeurlikhede plaas ons land in 'n verleentheid op wêreldmarkte.

In 'n demokratiese bestel het die e-tolstelsel debakel ons weereens gewys hoe belangrik dit is dat daar eers ordentlike publieke verhore moet plaasvind voordat finale besluite geneem en geïmplementeer word.

Die departement kan nog minder al die korrupsie met tender prosesse – wat in die provinsies van Suid-Afrika plaasvind – bekostig. Dit gaan oor 'n bevolking wat genoeg daarvan gehad het om as die belastingkoei gemelk te word. Dit gaan oor dié arrogante regering wat die vertroue van sleutelgroepe in die land verloor het, omdat diens aan die mense vir hom minder belangrik blyk te wees as die lekker vet kontrakte waarby sy vriende bemagtig word.

As gevolg van swak beplaning, jaag die Gautrain tonnel miljoene rande uit die belastingbetaler se sak. Op plekke is daar vier keer meer water as waarop die kontrakteur ooreengekom het. Dit kan lei tot 'n treinstelsel waarvan die lewensduur verkort is, plante wat in die omgewing vrek, en pompe waarvan die leeftyd verkort is. Verder is dit dwaas om gesofistikeerde elektroniese toerusting van die treinstelsel onnodig aan klam toestande bloot te stel.

Daar moet meer volhoubare werksgeleenthede vir die jeug en kundige mense geskep word. Werknemers moet 'n toekomsvisie hê waarop hulle trots kan wees, om sodoende ook vir hul families te kan sorg. Gebruik dieselfde werkers of arbeiders op verskillende terreine en doen weg met stukwerk van twee tot drie maande. Dit is nie werkskepping nie en is nie volhoubaar nie. Lei mense in die proses op om meer vaardighede te ontwikkel, om sodoende vir hulself 'n oopgeleentheid-samelewing daar te stel en om hulself ook te kan ontwikkel, tot voordeel van hul gemeenskappe. So kan daar van dieselfde werkers of arbeiders wat gras in die somer maande langs die paaie sny, gebruik gemaak word om in die winter slaggate in die paaie te herstel.

So kan ernstige ongelukke op ons paaie voorkom word en mense sal nie beseer word nie, soos wat twee weke gelede op die R507 in die Noordwesprovinsie, tussen Ottosdal en Delareyville, gebeur het. Mnr Ben Rainford se motor het twee slaggate getref en omgeslaan, en hy is ernstig beseer. Verskeie motors het in dieselfde week op dieselfde pad met beskadigde bande gaan staan.

Sonder ernstige en eerlike samewerking van die Departement van Vervoer is die ekonomie van Suid-Afrika op die platteland besig om tot niet te gaan. [Applous.]

Mr D FELDMAN


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Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 28


Mr H B GROENEWALD

Mr D B FELDMAN: Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, MECs and guests, according to the National Planning Commission, many of the challenges that South Africa faces in transport infrastructure are reflected in the country's economy. The domestic economy is transport intensive. This country's share of the world gross domestic product is about 0,7%, but it has 2,2% of world surface tonne-kilometres. In 2009, South Africa's logistics industry handled 1 530 million tonnes of freight over 363 million tonne-kilometres, at a total cost of R323 billion.

The acquisition of rolling stock for Metrorail is long overdue, given the age of the current fleet and the maintenance bill. The questionable governance of Prasa, though, requires a clean-up of top management by the board and by the Minister. The devolution of operational control of Metrorail to provincial control is the right policy option, so that there can be more effective control of regional operations and proactive maintenance of trains.

The taxi recapitalisation programme has had mixed success as there are still large percentages of taxis nationally that are old and not roadworthy.

The funding of Sanral needs to be revisited. Its funding model needs to be reviewed, because it cannot use the fiscus as a cash cow to implement road infrastructure improvement projects by milking road users. The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project e-toll saga is a national disgrace and an added layer to the cost of doing business in this country. Minister, we need to look at alternative financing models for road infrastructure upgrades. Improving national logistics grid efficiency means getting more freight off the road and onto rail. Hence, investment in rail infrastructure upgrading nationally and key industry corridors is noteworthy and will improve transport interdependency networks.

Minister, we need to be careful when granting new flying licences to low-cost carriers. The Velvet Sky debacle presents an embarrassing case of a new entrant not having a commercially viable model to compete in the competitive low-cost sector. Minister, we would like to know what happened to the SA National Taxi Council, Santaco, airline? Incidents such as these damage the reputation of the airline industry and cause consumer loss.

As Cope, we will exercise careful scrutiny of preferred bidder status for the major infrastructure projects to ensure value for money. These processes must be transparent and not be stage-managed by the ruling party, which is the ANC, and its predatory business elites. This department, its budget and programmes should contribute as an economic catalyst to improving efficiency in the economy and put in place enabling economic infrastructure, which should lead to a general improvement of the transport grid network. [Applause.]

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape)


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Mr D FELDMAN

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Hon Deputy Chair, hon Minister, whom I follow with pleasure, and hon Deputy Minister, who will follow me, I hope not with pleasure ... [Laughter.] ... and all other hon members and visitors here, I believe it is important that we continually hold before us the ideal and objectives for which we all work or should work. Expressed very simply, that is the ideal of attaining strong, durable and sustainable families, living in safe and caring communities protected by the Constitution, the law and by the agencies of the state, where the breadwinners are permanently and gainfully employed and able to provide for those they love, where the children are at good schools, preparing them to be successful adults able to lead lives they will later value, and where people can travel safely and affordably where they want and when they want so that they can access opportunities, jobs, health services, etc. For that to happen - and let me just say this: if we are not committed to that ideal, then we ought not to be in this place. Even worse: if we work against that ideal by stealing, by corruption or by mismanagement, then I have to say it would have been better if we had not been born.

Let me say that achieving that ideal – the one I hope we are all striving for - can, firstly, only happen if we maintained and used our existing infrastructure and, secondly, we planned, funded and built appropriate new infrastructure - the Minister spoke about this. Of all infrastructure development, none can be more important than transport and the whole concept of mobility. The Constitution guarantees our freedom of movement and the whole purpose of government and law is to give expression to that freedom by transport through the movement of people by road, rail and nonmotorised transport, and by the movement of goods by road and by rail. Yet, as chairman Sibande made clear to us, there is no area of the national infrastructure that is in greater disarray today than precisely that of transport infrastructure.

Rail, with some exceptions, has basically come to an end. We have roads that, in many cases, are disintegrating, as members have indicated here today. Let me speak specifically about Metrorail. I had a short text message today from the regional manager of Metrorail, an update in which he said we had six sets failing in a section on the southern line this morning due to various faults. That is the third-busiest section in Metrorail throughout the country. Six trains failing means that about 100 000 people failed to get to work on time today. That doesn't happen only today; it happens every day. It doesn't only happen in the Western Cape; it also happens in Gauteng, and it happens in KwaZulu-Natal. [Interjections.] The hon member says no. I want to ask you: When last were you on a Metrorail train, sir? For those who wish to say no, what we have to bear in mind is what the hon Minister knows: that 1,5 million South Africans are dependent on Metrorail to get to their work every day and to get there safely, and to get there on time, and it is not happening. It does not help when people say no. If I may say this, also to the hon chairman, Mr Sibande: It does not help when he mentions what is wrong and then attacks another party, as if that suddenly made things alright. That is not the way to fix problems in South Africa. [Interjections.] So, we have real problems with Metrorail and, while I am aware of the procurement that is planned to resolve the problem, I believe and I want to make it absolutely clear that the new procurement will not meet the existing bridging mechanism.

I have said this before: there needs to be an urgent meeting of the key players, which are the Department of Transport, the Gauteng province, the three metros in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal province and the metro in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as my own province and the metro here in Cape Town. There needs to an urgent meeting where we define and agree on the problems and see what we are going to do about them. Otherwise, we will have serious problems.

I want to talk about another problem and that is the Gauteng freeways, the so-called toll roads. Let me just say that what we are witnessing - and I just want to draw a line - is that the other eight provinces are being looked upon to finance Gauteng freeways as, indeed, we are financing the Gautrain. However, we do not enjoy the benefits of the R5,75 million that the hon Minister referred to, even though most of that R5,75 million belongs to the eight provinces. Yet it has been taken from us and given to Gauteng because the people there ... [Interjections.] It is Cosatu. [Interjections.] We do not wish to become involved.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Carlisle, can you please continue with the debate, because you are running out of time.

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Yes, thank you, I can see the time here. Can I just say to the hon Deputy Minister ...

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Please hold on. Hon Bloem?

Mr D V BLOEM: [Inaudible.]

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Can I just say to the Deputy Minister ...

Mr B NESI: Deputy Chairperson, on a point of order: I want to understand this. The member is saying that people from other provinces are not benefiting from e-tolling, only Gauteng is. Now, I want to know if the poor ...

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon member do you want to pose a question?

Mr B NESI: Yes. That is the one I am asking.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Ask him then, if he is prepared to answer.

Mr B NESI: Is the hon member prepared to answer?

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Of course. [Laughter.]

Mr B NESI: Thank you very much.

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): But just a short question, please! [Laughter.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Proceed.

Mr B NESI: Hon member, are you saying to us, with regard to the Chapman's Peak toll, that the poor people of that area are toyi-toying because they are benefiting?

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): No, no. Let me tell the hon member that the poor people of that area are pleased about the toll road, because it provides work for them. Go and ask them.

Mr B NESI: Is that why they toyi-toyi?

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Let me say this to the hon member and the hon Deputy Minister: Please don't involve us in the domestic squabbles within your party. [Laughter.] When a husband and a wife are fighting, it is very rude for other people to get involved. [Laughter.] What I want to say ...

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): You can proceed.

Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): What I want to say to the hon Minister is this: The time is now long overdue to look at this split of South Africans' transport over two departments. That is long overdue. We can never resolve our transport problem if one half of transport sits in one department and the other half sits in another. That is simply not going to work. It is also not going to work when, within National Treasury, the funding is done on the basis not of an overall transport plan but on the basis of funding different modalities. That can never work. South Africa calls upon the national government to urgently review the structure of transport within government and the funding of transport within government.

If the Chamber will allow me, let me finish by saying the following about the Western Cape: Notwithstanding the fact that we are financed, like everyone else, by the hon Minister in terms of conditional grants, there are no potholes in the Western Cape. [Interjections.] By 2014, there will be no surfaced road that is not up to what we call a "good to very good" standard and at that stage there will be only one important gravel road that will not be of an acceptable standard. I want to go further and say that in terms of the taxi industry, we were fortunate to have the Deputy Minister at the opening of our provincial regulating entity, and we are very proud of that. We believe that it is of a very high standard, and we think he was pleased with it. Certainly, our relations with the taxi industry are important ones. No member of the taxi industry has been murdered in this province for two years and six months. I tell you that is a very remarkable achievement for a province that has known high levels of violence. What is more, the two great mother bodies of the Western Cape, Capital Area Transportation Authority, or Cata, and the Congress for Democratic Taxi Association, or Codeta, came together at Nyanga taxi interchange three months ago to swear peace with each other and to work together. [Interjections.] I was present there, and it was an important occasion.

Finally, I just want to say to the hon Minister, and I thank him for his help in this, that we have now brought our road death toll down by 27,9%, and we are satisfied that we will achieve a halving of our death rate by 2014. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 29


Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape)

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Hon Deputy Chairperson, Minister Ndebele, MECs – it's always a pleasure to follow the MEC from the Western Cape - hon members, friends and colleagues, unfortunately my voice is very unparliamentary. [Laughter.] It has to do with the winter cold and not anything that I may or may not have smoked in the recent past! I hope you can hear me. [Laughter.]

One of the major challenges that we face in the transport sector is that there is always considerable pressure on us to constantly address backlogs. Of course, backlogs are indeed a serious matter. However, the danger with the narrow fixation on backlogs is that we begin to think that the place whence we have come since 1994 was basically fine and that the problem is that since 1994 we have let standards slip, and so there are backlogs.

What gets lost in this narrow fixation on backlogs is that in many parts of our country there is dynamic and irreversible change - some of it negative and some positive. There has been significant urbanisation, for instance, as the apartheid era restrictions on mobility have been lifted. Now, all of this goes to say that as we plan and implement the roll-out of transport and transport infrastructure - which, after all, will be in place for 30, 40 or 50 years, sometimes longer - it is absolutely imperative that we make sure that it is linked to a long-term and sustainable planning vision. Transport infrastructure must be integrated with other economic and social infrastructures, like human settlements, the location of hospitals and clinics, or special economic zones.

Above all, we should not just be catching up with backlogs but we should be beginning to transform our country for the better by placing it, for instance, on a new growth path that is job creating and does not just lock us into the same old, semi-colonial, semi-peripheral role in the global economy as an exporter of unbeneficiated minerals and agricultural products.

Also, we must ensure that we begin to transform the racialised and inequitable geography of South Africa by providing transport infrastructure that helps to develop neglected rural regions, like former Bantustans, for instance, or that begins to abolish the racialised black dormitory township/white suburban urban divide that we find in all our towns and cities.

This is the context, hon members, in which the Department of Transport is actively participating in the recently launched Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission. It is chaired, of course, by the President. The plenary PICC is made up of a range of national line Ministers, all nine premiers, including the premier of the Western Cape, metro mayors, including the metro mayor of Cape Town, and Salga. Its key objective is to identify strategic integrated infrastructure projects that will have a catalytic impact on job creation and on economic and social development.

The PICC has now identified 17 strategic integrated projects, called Sips. Allow me to highlight a few of them in which the Department of Transport is playing an active and often leading role.

Strategic integrated project 1, for instance, is centred on unlocking the resources of the northern mineral belt, primarily in the Waterberg region. It is a massive infrastructure project involving water, electricity, communications and, critically, transport. It is impacting not just on Limpopo but also on Mpumalanga, the North West Province, KwaZulu-Natal and even Swaziland and possibly Botswana as well.

In the course of this year, the major transport subprojects that will see progress include the Eskom-Majuba Rail project in Mpumalanga, the Transnet-Waterberg Feeder Rail and the Transnet Swazi rail link.

While we proceed with these major logistics infrastructure projects related to the northern mineral belt, we should not forget social infrastructure, as we often do. The massive industrial development around Lephalale, for instance - around the former Ellisras - is seeing a whole new city emerge in the veld. This presents us with the opportunity and the big challenge of creating a new and different kind of post-apartheid city, from the foundations up. The challenge is to create a more integrated and greener city at Lephalale.

Sip 2 is the critical freight logistics artery for our country - indeed for the whole SADC region. It is the Durban-Free State-Gauteng corridor. There are numerous merger subprojects within this Sip, including the expansion of the existing Durban port, the commencement by 2017 of work on a new, dig-out port at the old Durban International Airport, integrating the Dube Trade Port more effectively into the corridor, developing Harrismith in the Free State as a key distribution hub and then linking that to agriculture and agro-processing in the province, and the development of three new inland ports in Gauteng to complement the existing City Deep. It will also relieve the congestion, among other things, that is channelled into the CBD in Johannesburg - because of the location of City Deep.

At the heart of this particular Sip is a significant improvement in rail freight capacity, which, as colleagues have mentioned, is absolutely critical. We need to shift considerable freight back on to rail, away from road. In the course of this financial year, among other things, Transnet will be developing junction modifications to separate Prasa's operations from freight rail operations and also to procure additional block signals to allow for more freight trains on the system.

Sip 3 is what we call the South Eastern Node and Corridor Development project. It is basically centred on the Eastern Cape but also involves connections to other provinces. It has two key axes: there is a northern axis, which is based on two major subprojects, namely the Umzimvubu Dam and irrigation project, as well as the N2 Wild Coast road development. This axis is essentially about addressing the developmental needs of one of the most underdeveloped and poverty stricken regions of our country, Pondoland, which is, basically, the former Transkei.

It is also about using infrastructure to help this area to connect not just to markets in the south, in Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay, but also to KwaZulu-Natal and the critical N3 corridor as well.

The second dimension of the Sip 3 project is anchored in the port of Nqura and connecting the Eastern Cape more dynamically with the Northern Cape through the expansion of a manganese rail line. Next month, the construction of a brand-new manganese sinter plant at Sishen will be completed and it will be commissioned by June next year.

Other strategic integrated projects focus on other provinces: Sip 4 is focused on unlocking the economic opportunities in the North West province. We fully agree with the hon member who raised the serious problem of roads in the North West. For that reason, this particular presidential lead project will be given priority in national plans for road maintenance and repair, electricity transmission and distribution, and other infrastructure in the North West. We will deploy Sanral – with the agreement of the premier of that province – to use its project management capacity to really drive and seriously ensure the repair, maintenance and expansion of roads in the North West.

Sip 5 is focused on the Saldanha Northern Cape development corridor, focusing on the ore line from Sishen but also looking at developing a special economic zone at Saldanha to ensure beneficiation and to build on gas exploration, exportation and ancillary activities along our West Coast.

Sip 6 focuses on the 23 most-challenged district municipalities in our country. Sip 7 focuses on our 12 major cities and has as its strategic objective a co-ordinated infrastructure build programme to ensure that we finally begin to transform the racial apartheid geography of our cities.

Last week, Minister Ndebele and some 60 commuters were injured in a bus accident between Thaba'Nchu and Bloemfontein. This is just one more symptom of a deep-seated legacy that we have in our country. It is a transport problem, but it is also much more than that. The city of Mangaung consists of the old Bloemfontein, a relatively compact urban space, and 50km or 60km away there is Thaba'Nchu, in which some 30% of Mangaung's population live. So, one third of Mangaung's nominal citizens – second-class citizens - are still, in effect, condemned to daily migrant labour, if they are lucky enough to have a job.

We are not going to transform our South African urban social reality simply by providing faster and safer transport - as we must - along the 60km corridor between Bloemfontein and Thaba'Nchu. We have to transform the geography of our urban realities, not just there but in everywhere in South Africa.

As colleagues will appreciate from this brief overview – because it is just a brief overview, touching on some of the key areas where transport is integrated with other infrastructure emphases - at the heart of this massive infrastructure programme lies the imperative of effective co-operative governance across different line departments, between different spheres of national, provincial and local government and also across different party-political divides. We are always tempted, of course, to despair. That's fine - it's part of a parliamentary process; but we are not going to get this infrastructure build right unless we unite ourselves as a country, as one government, across different party-political affiliations.

For all these reasons, the NCOP is ideally placed to act as a key overseer, monitor and evaluator of progress and of challenges on this front. Certainly, as the Department of Transport, we look forward to an ongoing and dynamic relationship with all of you, regardless of party political affiliations. [Applause.]

Prince M M M ZULU

UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 30


THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

Prince M M M ZULU: Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister Manzankosi, the Deputy Minister and other MECs in our midst...

IsiZulu:

Ngqongqoshe, ukubeke kwaba sobala ukuthi wayilalela inhloko yaleli lizwe ngenkathi ithi unyaka wezi-2012 wunyaka wokuba kusetshenzwe. Kufanele kusabalale kuyo yonke imihubhe yaseNingizimu Afrika ukuthi akusetshenzwe; ngikulalele kahle ngokucophelela ngenkathi ukhuluma.

Ake ngize kuMhlonishwa iPhini likaNgqongqoshe, ngiyalincoam iPhini likaNgqongqoshe ngoba liyazivuma izinselele uMnyango wezokuThutha obhekene nazo kuleli. Kuyinto enhle uma umuntu azi ukuthi isifo sikuphi ekwazi nokusikhomba kunokuhamba esiphumputha.

Kunezinto eziningi ezisihlanganisayo sonke lapha eNdlini ezingukuthi ezintweni zokuthutha - ikakhulukazi uloliwe nojantshi bakhona – yithi uqobo okufanele sibe ngamaphoyisa azofundisa abantu ukuthi lezi zintambo zekhopha bangazintshontshi kuze kwazeke ukusungula amathuba emisebenzi ngezindlela ezifanele; kuyisibopho sethu sonke lapha.

Kodwa kukhona enye ingxenye ebizwa ngesiKhwama zesiNgozi zomGwaqo; Kufanele kusungulwe inqubomgomo yokuthi abantu abalimale ezingozini bakwazi ukuyithola kahle le mali ngale kokuba baze bayofuna abammeli abazobakhokhela. Ngumnyango okufanele ubone ukuthi wenza kanjani ukuthi abantu bakithi abampofu uma sebelimele ezingozini basizakala kanjani ngabammeli. Njengohulumeni wabantu kusemahlombe enu ukuthi abantu babhekeleleke uma sekuza lapho.

Ngqongqoshe nePhini lakho ngeze ngakhohlwa ukunishayela ihlombe ngomkhakhaso wenu wokuthi kuncishiswe izingozi kuyo yonke imigwaqo ezifundazweni zonke. Njengoba ushilo ukuthi sezinciphile izingozi zomgwaqo, zinciphile ngempela kula maholide, ukufa kwabantu ezingozini akuseyona insakavukela umchilo wesidwaba njengakuqala.

Njenge-IFP siyaseleka leli Voti leSabiwomali ngale kokungabaza ngoba kuyabonakala ukuthi izinto eziningi nisophe ukuba nizenze ngendlela efanalekile.

KuNgqongqoshe wezokuThutha KwaZulu-Natali, kulesi sabiwomali esikhona; Macingwane, ake ubheke phela ukuthi lezi zindawo obabamkhulu bethu ababeyibambe kuzo ishisa ziyakwazi ukufinyeleleka ngokukhululeka nakahle. Ake ngikuncome ngokuthi umgwaqo osuka Ondini uya kwaCeza usungakwazi ukuhamba kuwo ngesivinini esikhulu - uma amaphoyisa omgwaqo engekho – ngendlela osumuhle ngayo. Uma usuka usuya emzini kaDinuzulu – lapho aboshelwa khona, lapho amaNgisi ayemlande khona – abantu abakakwazi ukuhamba kahle kuyo. Siyaseleka iVoti leSabiwomali kodwa siyethemba ukuthi lizobhekana nokuthi lelaphe izifo ezikhona emigaqweni yakithi. Ngiyabonga. [Ihlombe.]

Ms M P THEMBA


UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 30


Prince M M M ZULU

Ms M P THEMBA: Hon Deputy Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, hon members and distinguished guests, the advances we have made in developing an expansive, reliable, affordable and equitable transport system are unprecedented. For the first time in the history of our country, our public transportation system has become more inclusive and has invoked the ANC's spirit of building a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.

One of the pillars of the ANC's transport policy is to use state resources for public good. Our 1992 policy document, Ready to Govern, already laid out proposals to correct the historic underdevelopment of our country in the transport sector. We viewed transportation not as a mechanism for benefiting narrow strata of the population but as a socioeconomic essential that would best be served through the system in which the state will play a major role. Key to our policy, at that stage, was affordability and accessibility, which have an even greater meaning today.

Transport infrastructure serves as a catalyst towards the attainment of our socioeconomic goals as a country and without a world-class transport infrastructure, our country will not fulfil its potential.

The drive to reduce the cost of living is critical and public utilities have a significant role in this regard in the transport sector. This vision articulates that transport has a central role to play in the transformation of towns, cities and livelihoods. Transport is essential to ensuring that communities have the ability to improve their lives and we need to examine this Budget Vote within this context.

As Members of Parliament and as members of this House in particular, we are all biased towards provincial interests. We wish to take this opportunity and share with the Minister and the department some of the challenges raised by our communities when we did our oversight work during Provincial Week in September 2011.

In Cacadu District, we were told that the roads were bumpy and almost impassable and the rail network, which provided important and vibrant support to the economy, was neglected and dilapidated.

In Merafong, we heard that the roads were poor and caused many accidents. In Umtshezi Local Municipality, they said the roads were poor and inaccessible, especially during rainy seasons. In Limpopo, Mutale Local Municipality, they said the Matavhela and Tshandana roads, which are the responsibility of both the municipality and the national department, required urgent upgrading and bridges needed reconstruction.

My last area of concern – there are many more – is the Moloto Corridor in Mpumalanga. This project was announced in 2008, with a budget of R8,6 billion, after a feasibility study was done. In your budget speech, Minister, you said the steering committee, chaired by the Director-General of Transport, was only now commencing with the feasibility study, which would be finalised in 18 months. It is four years since the project was first announced and if that information is correct, it would be five years and six months before we got to the next phase.

As government, we said we wanted to accelerate service delivery and we said we would do things in a "business unusual" way. After 18 years of practise in governance, we are continually striving to implement a people-centred transport policy that incorporates safety, security, affordability and inclusiveness, particularly in the poorer rural areas and outlying urban areas in our country.

In this respect, today's Budget Vote allows us a moment to reflect on policy decisions influencing our department's performance.

When examining the strategic plan of the department, a key performance outcome is that of forging a transport sector that is safe and secure. In this regard, it is unfortunate that the anticipated Transport Disaster Management Plan, which was meant to feed into the National Disaster Management Strategy, was due for funding but had to be put on hold. Certainly, we would expect that over the medium-term expenditure framework provision for this has to be set aside. Any risk assessment strategy would inform this. Next year's Budget Vote should certainly begin to reflect this.

We welcome the policy implementation of the Integrated Public Transport Networks, which, on examination, has been fruitful in reducing the fragmentation of the public transport system. Our oversight responsibilities over the public transport strategy and action plan must focus on the Accelerated Modal Upgrading and Integrated Rapid Public Transport Networks and the Budget Vote should speak to this.

The importance of maximising the contribution of transport to the economic and social development goals of our country in the context of transport can best be served by providing a fully integrated transport network and infrastructure. This has been the international experience of those countries that have been successful in providing effective and efficient transport.

It is pleasing to see that several cities in places like Gauteng and the Western Cape have made progress in developing their integrated public transport system, which includes the bus rapid transit networks and taxi empowerment. However, we would like to see the same rapid transport system go through Langa, Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Gugulethu. Further, we are conscious of the fact that the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo are in the process of developing their plans for the provincial integrated public transport. In line with one of the five ANC priorities of rural development reflected in the comprehensive rural development programme, rural provinces are part of the transport infrastructure roll-out and this will ensure that impoverished communities are drawn into the rural economy.

Improving the quality of people's lives means bringing them a transport network that connects them to their homes, places of work and other destinations. We recognise the extent of the damage done by the apartheid government's spatial distribution of economic resources. We support the measures taken by the department and the Ministry to transform the public transport sector. Recently, the Minister reported that the Johannesburg taxi industry became 66% shareholder of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System. The participation of historically disadvantaged people in the transport sector needs to be promoted as it is a measure for economic empowerment and the expansion of economic growth circles in our country.

We urge the department to seek measures that will fast-track the implementation of the strengthening of project management capacity through the introduction of the provincial project management units, whose focus would be on co-ordinating the framework for the transport sector and ensuring effective implementation and monitoring of this programme. These units are critical as they are meant to concentrate on the necessary capacity for the efficient execution of the integrated public transport. This programme will receive in excess of R100 million this year, in comparison to half this amount in 2008-09.

In conclusion, as I indicated earlier, the ANC supports this Budget Vote but I thought I should highlight some of the issues from our provinces - which the Minister is probably aware of, but our Constitution enjoins us to table them again in your presence. [Applause.]

Mr W MCHUNU


UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 31


Ms M P THEMBA

Mr Mr W MCHUNU (KwaZulu-Natal): Deputy Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, colleagues, MECs, members of this Council, I rise to put forward the policy views of the KwaZulu-Natal department of transport, following the budget speech presented by the Minister, both in the NA and here today.

The hon Minister highlighted all the activities that the government has invested in to ensure that our transport system serves as a catalyst for its socio-economic development. We fully support the Minister in this regard. However, in our view, there are challenges that still need to be urgently dealt with to provide much-needed impetus for the socio-economic emancipation of the previously marginalised people in our country.

Dealing with those challenges may necessitate a review of some policies and relevant legislation. The government of KwaZulu-Natal joins the rest of the country in regarding the year 2012-13 as the year of massive infrastructural development, which we understand to include road, rail and ports, as pronounced by the President and immediately pursued by the Minister and the Department of Transport. We are doing our part to ensure that the five-year priorities, identified through the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinative Commission, are fulfilled.

We believe that speeding up the implementation of these presidential orders will reverse the damage caused by a combination of high traffic volumes, overloading of heavy vehicles, poor drainage and high levels of rainfall, which all contribute to the high occurrence of potholes in our province. It is, however, with sadness that I have to report to this Council that the hugely successful Vukuzakhe emerging contractors programme had come under attack through a legal challenge by the SA Federation of Civil Engineers. We believe this is questioning the legitimacy of emerging contractors. It is our view that our legislation must provide for us to have programmes aimed at creating and empowering previously disadvantaged emerging contractors in the construction industry. This would be in line with the transformation mandate that the post-apartheid government has for the majority of the people of this country.

Road safety is a priority for the Department of Transport. It is particularly so as 2011-12 had been declared the UN decade for fighting carnage and transgressions on our roads. We also want to ensure that we play our part in prioritising this, together with our partners in the province.

In an effort to eradicate road carnage, we have coined a new road safety campaign, which we dubbed Operation Valingozi. We also consider it imperative that there should be legislation in place for regulating the driving-school industry. To this effect, we have produced an instructors' training manual. The provincial team is rolling out the stakeholders' regional consultation workshop initiative to promote these values and solicit input from relevant stakeholders.

As KwaZulu-Natal, we support the extraordinary measures taken at national level by your department, Minister, to deal with the extraordinary situation of lawlessness and accidents on our roads. These create widows, widowers and orphans. We also support the implementation of the administrative adjudication of road traffic offences.

We wish for life to be made very difficult for drunkards and speedsters on our roads. As part of the intervention, we wish for judicial officers to take a strong stand to prevent road carnage due to drunken driving, as well as other forms of lawlessness on our roads. It is clear that the breaking of laws on our roads continues with arrogance every day and every year. This arrogance seems to derive from traffic law-breakers knowing that they will be fined and not jailed. After paying their fines, they continue to drive their cars freely. They may even be involved in more law-breaking and, if caught, the process will be the same – you get arrested, fined and then you go free again!

The South African legislative context advocates for the inclusion of citizens in the decision-making process, to promote developmental governments. Hence we have the establishment of community liaison structures on transport matters. To this end we are advocating for the amalgamation of all our community liaison structures and linking them to ward committee structures so as to address the fragmentation and misalignment of planning and the delivery of transport-related services by the department and our municipalities.

The majority of our people are currently not getting proper public transport services as defined in the public transport agenda. This is due to challenges that are inherent in our public transport system, such as modal fragmentation; a supply-driven system; the lack of proper public transport infrastructure; and a skewed public transport subsidy, among other factors.

We have developed a strategy for the transformation of the subsidised contract operators in our province. This has been approved by our own government. For the first time, our department has entered into a contract for the provision of subsidised services with Ugu Transport Service Pty Ltd, a company of small bus operators and taxi operators in the Port Shepstone area.

The National Transport Policy and the Public Transport Strategy and Action Plan have been a ground-breaking initiatives towards re-engineering the public transport system. These policies mandate planning authorities to develop and implement integrated public transport networks, or IPTNs. Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality is one of the 12 cities in the country where these integrated public transport networks are being rolled out. These cities are in the process of engaging in detailed planning on some of the key corridors, with the aim of implementing some of these public transport improvements within the next three years. They are presently piloting a new automated fare collection system, whereby a smart card will be used as the fare payment method on board the buses, replacing the current paper bus coupons. It is our view that their achievements and successes will provide lessons that will help as the programme gets replicated in other cities and towns in our province and probably countrywide.

I conclude by repeating that we are in full support of the programmes of our Department of Transport nationally and will by all means play our role to implement some of the policy imperatives in our province.

Mr M P JACOBS


UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 32


Mr W MCHUNU (KwaZulu-Natal)

Mr M P JACOBS: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, MECs, all protocol observed, allow me to add my voice to this important debate. We meet at a time when death on our roads has been reduced drastically. We salute the important work that has been done by your department to reduce the scourge of death on our roads. We hope that with additional funding we will be able to reduce death on our roads to zero.

Moving forward, we urge you that with funds available we should improve roads infrastructure in all provinces. We are aware that some of our provinces have made strides in improving road infrastructure. This is to the benefit of our economy because no economy can improve if it does not have a good road network. School pupils will also benefit tremendously from good infrastructure because it will bring schools nearer to their residences and homesteads.

A safe and reliable transport system, which is accessible to all those who have been disadvantaged for a long time, is a challenge that still confronts us as a country. We need to ease their burden by providing them with a cheap, safe and reliable transport system. Our people should benefit from the democracy for which they have voted. We cannot at all allow a situation where the disadvantaged is still being disadvantaged and the privileged still being privileged. We will always sound the clarion call that we should improve the lives of our people by making life easier and easing their burden.

We need to learn from the e-tolling saga because it was badly handled. Its intentions were good, but we cannot ignore the voice of the majority and we want a road infrastructure that would not impoverish our people. We need to ask ourselves what lessons we have learnt and how to respond to these challenges. We leave these challenges in your able hands because through your leadership in the Department of Transport, we have begun to see some improvement. However, it is true to say that this is not enough because each new day brings its new challenges.

We cannot forget the development of rural areas because these are the areas where most of our people are from. We still urge your department to build bridges so that everybody was connected to their destinations, especially our school children on rainy days.

As we support this Budget Vote, we urge and encourage you to ensure that this budget benefits those who are still disadvantaged. It is the task of this government to assist those who have not benefited in the past to improve their lives for the better. Together we can do more.

Let me respond to what hon Groenewald said about the issue of farmers who are losing contact with the markets because of potholes. I did not hear him say anything about farmworkers. Farmworkers have been working despite potholes all their lives without benefiting. They did not complain, but farmers are complaining about a few potholes. [Laughter.]

They say the Western Cape has better infrastructure. Who built that infrastructure? Did these people benefit from the infrastructure they talk about? No, they are not benefiting. They also talk about e-tolls, but there is no uproar when e-tolling is raised in the Western Cape. It seems to the Western Cape that it is a safe heaven for other people. They say that people are stealing. Who stole the land? If you steal land, you steal wealth. So, it means ... [Interjections.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Groenewald, please behave or else you must leave.

Mr M P JACOBS: Your MEC talked about that. Stop talking about stealing. He also talked about Metrorail. Even in this regard, the people who are disadvantaged are those who were exploited. Let me warn the DA, come 2014, we will take over the Western Cape. [Applause.] So, either you become part of South Africa or you sail across the sea to Robben Island. [Laughter.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Members! Mr Groenewald and the veteran, please behave! I am referring to both of you.

The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 33


Mr M P JACOBS

The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Deputy Chairperson, I would like to thank the hon members for today's very constructive debate. I thank them for their input. Their points have been taken on board. We must remind ourselves that we have been facing a number of problems, since 2009. Problems emanating from transport tend to be national problems. You will remember that just before and after the election the crisis for the country was the bus rapid transport system. It was as if one could not even contest the election unless one had solved that problem. That problem is now behind us. I think we should congratulate ourselves on that.

The issue of the taxi industry also became such a national problem. That is now largely behind us and I am happy that colleagues are acknowledging that, going forward, the programme means major empowerment of the taxi industry. Their more vigorous and formal participation in the formal economy has been going ahead. Again, that is now behind us and people can see where we are going.

The same would be with talks. We have been tried many times. We have been tested many times and we emerge victorious after those tests.

On the issue of road infrastructure, I am sure colleagues are aware that we are talking about big infrastructure investment. In 2011 it was R6,4 billion. We are now talking about R7,9 billion. It is important that this programme should energise communities throughout the country because here we are talking about money that goes to communities to build access. You can have whatever other social infrastructure, but if you don't have a road to get there, it all comes to nought. So, I'm sure that in respect of the programme we are embarking on with this R7,9 billion, when we come here next year, we won't be talking about any 10% that has not been spent. It was a learning curve and money was spent out there. So, we should do that.

We are seriously committed to the target where, in 2014, there will be absolutely no school, no clinic and no economic centre that can't be reached because there is no road. What is the point of "one person, one vote" if it doesn't bring the same value to everybody? It should be "one person, one vote, one value".

Coming to scholar transport, the policy is being finalised and I am sure we will now be able to move forward.

When we sent our condolences to the family of the train driver earlier on, I think it raised the issue of female train drivers. Let us, in that light, point out that there are more and more women train drivers. In Prasa alone we have more than 350 female train drivers out of 960 drivers. So, we are getting there. I am sure we will have over 50% female train drivers in no time. So, that programme of transformation is going ahead.

Let me get to the issue of road safety. It is a programme we should all take seriously with real vigour. It is no pleasure for us to see that while roughly 20% of the vehicles in the world are on our continent, we account for more than 65% of the world's crashes. More crashes with fewer vehicles! So there is something in our psyche that we have to correct. We want to take measures that ensure that we are addressing the issue so that, by 2020, the number of people who die in car crashes per year should be less than 7 000. It is currently 13 000. That should be everyone's aim. Starting here, don't die. If you die, die elsewhere, not on the road. [Laughter.]

It is important to know that safety is in your hands. Don't let your family die. It should really become second nature for those with children to ensure that when you transport a child in a borrowed car, you must ensure that you start enforcing certain restrictions. There should be no drinking; there should be no speeding; there should be no fights. Everyone should start with their own family so that the message spreads. I think it is going to be quite important and I think this is one battle that is actually winnable.

The Chief Whip mentioned certain lessons, but we should also understand that it is a process. Sometimes we South Africans have a habit of hailing everything and saying, "Hallelujah, hallelujah!" without being critical. Then, when the negative comes, we say, "Terrible, terrible!" without actually seeing what was good about the process. The point is that we have a programme that could decongest the road infrastructure in Gauteng. It went a particular way but the question remains with us.

Having learnt from the problems that have come our way with the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, how do we want to go forward with the funding of road infrastructure? We must now discuss that, but not in a hurried fashion. In terms of GFIP, this is only phase 1. Phase 2 covers more than 500kms. It needs to be done, but how are we going to do it? What process of consultation do we need to embark on? Let us discuss that because we have not put the first shovel in yet. We have not spent the first rand. Let us therefore discuss the issue properly, so that when we go forward we don't have to turn back later and admit that we didn't consult properly. Let us do it right and not be hurried by anybody. We need to be sure that what we are doing is right.

There will always be option 1, 2 and 3, but if we choose option 2, let us stick to it and defend it. We should be able to explain it and say, going forward, we will go with this option, not that one, for good reason. I am sure that it has been an important lesson for all of us, but roads need to be built. They still need to be built. That is phase 2. We still need to build in the Western Cape; we still need to build in KwaZulu-Natal; we still need to build in Mpumalanga. We need to build everywhere. How do we do that? So let us do that, knowing that time is of the essence.

On the question of the Decade of Action, I think we really do want to support it. The Deputy Minister changed his jacket and left this off – it is the emblem of the UN Decade of Action 2011 to 2020. I am sure the director-general will ensure that all members have these, not only for themselves but also to distribute. It says that all of us must be what the UN calls "Friends of the Decade of Action for Road Safety". This project aims to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2020. Its premise is that it starts with you. So, I think all of us must be ambassadors in the schools and communities where we operate, but we should start with our families. That is how we can move forward. I think this is one winnable campaign because not only has just about every family been affected by this trauma but we can all do something about it. I am sure we want to do that.

One of the key things we are advocating is the creation of what we call road safety councils. Road safety councils can be formed by five or 500 people - it doesn't matter how many. The key element is people who have suffered bereavement themselves. Such people – people who want safer streets in their neighbourhoods – can become activists for road safety if they don't want people driving drunk, revving engines and all that in their own street.

So, when we are "Friends of the Decade of Action" we should mobilise schools, particularly because that is the easiest place to start: School pupils have not yet learnt bad road habits. They are still going to learn, so let them learn good habits. In that way we can change the culture. If we were able to reduce the infection rates of HIV and Aids, I can't see us failing on this one. It is much easier than reducing HIV and Aids infection rates. We therefore want everyone to take this programme very seriously, starting here in this very House.

Of course, we are co-ordinating with the Southern African Development Community's ministers on this issue so that the whole of SADC becomes a safer zone. After all, what is the use of being safe in the Free State if you are not safe in Lesotho? What is the point of being safe in Swaziland if you are not safe in Mpumalanga and vice versa? So, all of us are committed to this and we should be able to move on it. It goes to our communities. It goes to government. It goes to business. It goes to all of those.

We are beginning to make progress. A number of enterprises are coming in and signing on as friends of the decade. For example, Imperial Motor Holdings has some 35 000 vehicles. All of them have signed the iPledge. So, when they start their cars in the morning, they remember that they have signed the iPledge, which commits them to doing things in a specific way.

We will be moving on to those enterprises, like buses, that are subsidised by us, colleague Carlisle. We subsidise buses. We will ask them to take this pledge. We will go to truckers, etc, but we will start with the people we have control over. Taxis are given routes by us and those routes can be withdrawn by us. So, such enterprises are easier to control because we can force compliance, so to speak. Then we can move forward, and I think it is a winnable task. Colleagues, thank you very much for your support of the budget. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): I would like to welcome the learners from Pinelands North Primary School to the proceedings today. They are seated in the gallery.

Debate concluded.

SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION AS PRINTED ON THE ORDER PAPER


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FIRST ORDER

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

(Subject for Discussion)

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: Deputy Chair, hon members, colleagues and distinguished guests with us today, I stand before you on this august occasion, the celebration of World Environment Day. We all know this is the annual international commemoration of the UN General Assembly Conference on Human Environment, held in 1972 in the Swedish city of Stockholm, to create, educate and raise awareness on environmental conservation.

In South Africa, it is not just Environment Day. To us, June is Environment Month, with all citizens being mobilised to implement integrated interventions to protect the environment. This year's celebration is observed under the international theme "The Green Economy: Does It Include You?" That is the question. I think it includes everybody. I know it integrates with our national theme, that of strengthening our collective efforts to deepen public awareness of the need to preserve the environment. These are one and the same.

I was really touched when a member of the community, an old man, in Seshego, Limpopo, tried to raise his voice about pollution at Seshego's dam. We followed up on that matter and we found where the problem started. That shows that it is not us or people who have gone to school only who know about the environment. The environment is not a new thing to us - even our ancestors, with their indigenous knowledge, knew how to conserve the environment. We act as if this is something new. It is only that there has been a missing link in certain generations. It is important for us to revitalise and bring back our indigenous knowledge on conserving the environment.

In the coming few weeks, people from across the globe will converge in Rio de Janeiro for the Conference on Sustainable Development, the Rio+20. We have made strides in the implementation of the sustainable development agenda over the past two decades. Rio+20 will address issues such as the green economy within the context of sustainable development, poverty eradication and the reform of the international institutional framework supporting sustainable development globally.

The month of June also marks the 36th commemoration of the class of 1976. It is in this month that young people were brutally killed by the apartheid government for refusing to adhere to its undemocratic laws. Today, we are fighting a different battle. South Africans from all walks of life, both young and old, together, are saying the gloves are off, we will protect the environment against anything that threatens it, be it climate change, pollution, land degradation, etc. Hence, we are advocating for a green economy.

Government views the green economy as sustainable development in action, based on addressing the interdependence between economic growth, social protection and natural ecosystems. We are undertaking the green economy modelling aimed at demonstrating that greening the economy across national key sectors can drive economic recovery and growth and lead to future prosperity and job creation, while at the same time addressing social inequalities and environmental challenges.

The National Treasury has budgeted R800 million for the Green Fund over the next two financial years. This will enable a robust transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and jobcreating green economy.

In October 2011, Cabinet approved the National Strategy for Sustainable Development and Action Plan, the NSSD 1, for implementation in the period 2011-14. The NSSD 1 identified five strategic objectives. These include: enhancing systems for integrated planning and implementation; sustaining our ecosystems and using natural resources efficiently; towards a green economy; building sustainable communities; and responding effectively to climate change.

The national strategy builds on initiatives that government, businesses, nongovernmental organisations, civil society, academia and other role-players have put in place to address sustainability issues in South Africa. Interventions in the national strategy for sustainable development contribute to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals.

It is important that we continue to develop enabling mechanisms to support the practical implementation of programmes and build on existing processes, programmes, indigenous knowledge and initiatives in key sectors to shift towards a resource-efficient, low-carbon and pro-employment growth path. Traditional wisdom is fundamental to sustainability and has much to offer in terms of living in harmony with nature and society.

We must scale up various successful programmes, including the national programme to bring sustainable resource use criteria into the design of settlement projects and subsidised houses across the country, with special reference to things like densities; orientation of the buildings; roof overhangs and insulation; installation of solar water heaters; sustainable use of water resources; effective waste management services, with greater levels of minimisation and recycling; sustainable public transportation, including the prevalence of nonmotorised transportation; and the introduction of land care programmes aimed at finding ways of rehabilitating the quality of our soil.

In strengthening our collective efforts to deepen public awareness of the need to preserve the environment last year in the lead up to COP 17, Indalo Yethu, with the support of the Department of Environmental Affairs, National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Passenger Rail Agency of SA; Embassy of the Republic of Germany and British Council, and in collaboration with its content partners, implemented the Climate Train project, which I know you all know about. The Climate Train travelled through 16 villages, towns and cities as a platform to facilitate a national conversation within towns and villages on the impact of climate change on communities and to give them an opportunity to tell their climate story as well as document their responses, expectations and aspirations. That was very interesting. I wish we all had that chance. It was in Limpopo where I found women from rural areas, not theorising but basically saying this: "You are talking about climate change as if it were something that was abstract, that only scientists can deal with, but we know what it is because we feel the effect. Whenever we wake up, we see the effects. Some women from Sekhukhune used to supply one of the supermarkets with vegetables. All of a sudden our spinach, which we used to cut during the day, turned yellow if it stayed in shops for a longer period. This means that it had absorbed lot of heat." That was their observation. They said a lot of things, which we wrote down, about the effects of climate change.

The project undertook various programmes to mitigate climate change and assist communities to adapt to it. These included the planting of trees in various provinces, which was accompanied by environmental awareness and education involving communities and school learners.

South Africa has a wealth of healthy ecosystems and a rich natural heritage of biodiversity. This extraordinary ecological wealth gives us a unique opportunity to capitalise on emerging green markets and help us adapt to climate change. This is our competitive edge in growing our economy and addressing climate change. The rehabilitation and proper management of our ecosystems will not only increase our competitive advantage but help us adapt our economy to become more sustainable and resilient in changing global conditions.

We must invest in maintaining our ecological infrastructure to help us deliver socioeconomic development and food security for all South Africans. Our public entity, the SA National Biodiversity Institute, is mandated to champion the exploration, conservation, sustainable use and enjoyment of our exceptionally rich biodiversity for all South Africans. Through the SA National Biodiversity Institute, we will manage the process of placing a maximum of 800 unemployed school leavers and graduates, predominantly from rural areas, in biodiversity jobs for an incubation period of two-and-a-half years.

Through our environmental youth development, we have trained 206 unemployed young people on environmental management and they will be placed in different municipalities. Furthermore, 12 young people were employed and trained on integrated environmental management towards the rolling out of education and awareness programmes. In turn they trained 170 young people to do education and awareness campaigns through the performing arts. An additional 500 young people are targeted in 12 identified protected areas.

We reach many communities through our vigorous public participation programme aimed at, among others, educating the public about waste management and recycling, which appeared in the environment news pages that we have put in your letter boxes.

Allow me to take you through the benefits of recycling. We know it saves trees and the environment. There are many other examples of how we can save land by recycling because we need those landfill sites to be land that we can put to use in the economy or to build houses.


In conclusion, I would like to say that the government alone cannot manage and fund a just transition to a green economy. The private sector and civil society also play a fundamental role.

I call on every South African citizen to be an ambassador of the environment. Let us all conserve and protect the environment for present and future generations. That is the reason we work with the Department of Education to include environmental education in the curriculum, starting from grade R. Learners need to be taught while they are still young so that they can grow up with an understanding and knowledge of preserving the environment. The little ones are better teachers because when they see something wrong, they will say, "Mommy or uncle, do not throw that away! Take care of the environment!"

It is therefore our responsibility to further the issues of preserving the environment because it sustains us. We will never develop, economically or socially, if we do not conserve the environment. We are talking about our lives and the issue cuts across all departments and all walks of life. If we do not conserve the environment, we are killing life, especially the issue - the main challenge - that we are prioritising as a department, which is waste management. Every open space has become a dumping place. By opting for ecotowns and ecovillages, we are trying to not build more cities because where we stay is where a lot of waste is being dumped.

We have to change our mentality and say that waste is wealth. If people look at waste as wealth, there won't be any dumping because they are making money from recycling. They could also become entrepreneurs and have their own businesses while, on the other hand, they would be saving the environment. [Applause.]

Mrs A N D QIKANI


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THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS

Mrs A N D QIKANI: Chairperson, hon members, hon Ministers, we are living as if we had an extra planet at our disposal. We are using 50% more resources than the earth can provide and unless we change course, that figure we will increase very fast. By 2030, even two planets would not be enough. These are the words of Jim Leape, the director-general of the World Wide Fund for Nature International, from the 2012 Living Planet Report, which was launched recently.

According to the UN definition, the green economy is one that results in "improved human wellbeing and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities". These are the main principles that underpin sustainable development and will also be the foundation of the discussion at the Rio+20 Earth Summit, which will take place later this month in Brazil.

The main attributes of the green economy are managing our consumption patterns, utilising our current resources sustainably and then making use of technology to ensure more efficient and effective use of energy. These three attributes affect all of us and therefore we are all part of the green economy.

Currently, the green economy contains a number of priority programmes that were identified to effectively provide practical interventions for the environment sector. If implemented, these programmes will make a significant contribution towards mainstreaming green economy approaches within South Africa to the benefit of the environment, economy and society; promoting growth while reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; minimising waste and the inefficient use of natural resources; maintaining biodiversity and strengthening energy security.

The environment sector in the initial implementation plan for the green economy focuses contribution on four key areas. These include resource conservation and management, sustainable waste management practices, water management and crosscutting focus areas that will cover greening and legacy, research, awareness, training, skills development and knowledge management.

Currently, the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, through its social responsibility programme, has various expanded public works programmes to ensure that the environmental sector contributed to the creation of jobs in South Africa. These include the Working for Water, Working on Wetlands, Working on Fire, Working on Waste, Working for the Coast, People and Parks and Sustainable Land-Based Livelihood programmes. All these initiatives are examples of ordinary people being included in the green economy.

The impact that these jobs and related capacity-building programmes has had on the people of this country cannot be overemphasised. These public works projects are recognised globally as a success story, as ordinary people are provided with opportunities to address their poverty status by using natural resources to derive an income and livelihood.

Globally, proper natural resource management is a big employer of the masses and many local communities sustain themselves or supplement their household income by using the resources around them. What we need to realise is that being involved in the green economy is not only about being involved in big government projects but also about changing our lifestyle and being aware of what we use and how we use our resources.

Agriculture is also a sector that has been highlighted to increase our citizens' participation in the green economy. Green job opportunities exist by producing agricultural produce in a more effective and less carbon-intensive manner, and also looking at addressing poor land use management practices, for example, ensuring that overgrazing and erosion is controlled so that land is not degraded further. Just by ensuring that the natural environment is protected, we can ensure that ecosystem services function better. Furthermore, waste management and decreasing waste and pollution are key areas for creating a healthy, sustainable environment for all South Africans.

IsiXhosa:

Isebe malithathe ingqalelo yokuba abantu abaninzi bahlaselwa ngookrebe kwaye e-Wild Coast nalapha eKapa kukho isikhalo esinjalo. Kukho nabantu abathi gqolo ukuzingela izilwanyana kwiindawo ezihlala kuzo. Ezi zilwanyana ziphila ubomi bentshontsho kuba kukho abantu abafuna ukwenza ingeniso ngeempondo zezilwanyana. Loo nto ke ifuna ukunikwa ingqwalasela enkulu. Ziyaxhalabisa ke iziganeko ezilolu hlobo kwaye zishiya ichaphaza elibi kulawulo lwendalo.

Enye into, abantu bafuna ukufundiswa – ewe ndiyalibona isebe likhona kwaye lifundisa abantu ngendalo kwiidolophana ezithile. Kukho iindawo endicinga ukuba ziyashiyeka kwaye zezona ndawo zicaphazeleka kakhulu, ingakumbi iilali ezikude needolophu apho bahlaselwa kakhulu ziinkanyamba kube kumpenge-mpenge kungekho nto isebe elincedisa ngayo efana nokufundisa abantu ngeendlela zokutyala imithi nokuba bangenza njani na ukuzikhusela ukuze basinde kwezoo nkanyamba. Baphela besiba ngamaxhoba okuthwaxwa zizinto ezinjalo. Yiyo loo nto ndisithi isebe malizame ukuwuqwalasela lo mcimbi. Sincome sigxeka; kodwa zikhona ezinye izinto ezifuna ukujongwa.

English:

In conclusion, I want to leave you with these parting words. Let us all work together in achieving a healthy, sustainable environment for all South Africans by ensuring that the green economy is mainstreamed into all sectors and that we all become aware of how we use our natural resources. [Applause.]

Mr D A WORTH


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Mrs A N D QIKANI

Mr D A WORTH: Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, members of executive council, MECs present, hon members and guests, World Environment Day is a day that must stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action. That day is today, the 5th of June. This is the day that the UN Conference on the Human Environment began on 05 June 1972. World Environment Day is in spring in the northern hemisphere and in autumn in the southern hemisphere.

As the Deputy Minister has said, the theme for World Environment Day 2012 is "The Green Economy: Does It Include You?" The UN environment programme defines a green economy as one that results in "improved human wellbeing and social equity while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities". Practically speaking, a green economy is one whose growth in income and employment is driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution; enhance energy and resource efficiency; and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Several concurrent crises have unfolded in the last decade in the areas of climate change, biodiversity, fuel, food, water and, more recently, the global financial system. Accelerating carbon emissions indicate the mounting threat of climate change with potentially disastrous human consequences. The recent fuel price increases and skyrocketing food prices reflect both structural weaknesses and unresolved risks.

We know that farming is becoming difficult due to price increases in fertilisers, fuel, labour and machinery. Besides the economic factors it is acknowledged that global warming and water scarcity are serious threats in the near future. In Bangladesh, for example, floods and cyclones have changed eating habits, causing the increased production of potatoes in the place of rice. The search for alternative sources of protein to meat and milk, such as legumes, will increase. Extreme climate conditions will result in unpredictable weather conditions and intense rainfall and droughts and heat waves can be expected in different parts of the world, including the south of Africa.

A report titled "The Food Gap: The impacts of climate change on food production", released by the Universal Ecological Fund, indicates that climate change will have a severe impact in terms of decreased rainfall in areas such as Africa, where it is expected that the agricultural yield could be affected by as much as 50% in some countries. In Asia, the greatest threat will be in terms of water scarcity, while in other areas of the world agricultural production will be affected.

The world's population passed the 7 billion mark this year and is set to reach over 9 billion by 2050. Contrary to previous estimates, the most recent population projections expect continued population growth thereafter. This will increase the challenge of feeding such a growing population, which will crucially depend on higher agricultural output.

There are 10 cities in the world already that have a population of 10 million people or more. By 2050, two out of three people in the world will live in cities. Biodiversity on the earth has shrunk by a third. The WWF, as mentioned earlier, already states in its latest report that the ecological footprint exceeds biocapacity. This means that the human population is at present consuming 50% more resources than what planet earth can renew. By 2030 two planets like earth would still not be sufficient.

Fresh water is already a global problem and forecasts suggest a growing gap by 2030 between the demand for fresh water and the renewable supply, according to the research by McKinsey and Company in 2009. The outlook for improved sanitation for over 1,1 billion people is bleak and at least 844 million people still lack access to clean drinking water, according to a report of the World Health Organisation and the UN Children's Fund in 2010. Collectively, according to the report, these crises are severely impacting on the possibility of sustaining prosperity worldwide and achieving the Millennium Development Goals for reducing extreme poverty. There are also compounding social problems such as job losses, socioeconomic insecurity, disease and social instability.

During the last two decades, much capital has been spent on property, fossil fuels and structured financial assets, with relatively little in comparison invested in renewable energy, energy efficiency, public transportation, sustainable agriculture, ecosystems and biodiversity.

Deforestation accounts for close to 20% of the world's emissions of greenhouse gases. Sustainable managed forests can continue to support communities and ecosystems without damaging the environment and climate. Every acre of rainforest absorbs about one-and-half tons of carbon dioxide every year. This year, do something to make a difference: plant a tree.

Overfishing in many parts of the world threatens to deplete future fish stocks. We can avoid this by working now to promote sustainable fishing practices, such as aquaculture management and fish farms.

We must also learn, as we have heard, to recycle waste and to reuse materials. Recycling appropriate materials and composting food waste reduces the impact of land fills as well as the demand on our natural resources to produce more materials.

The current energy sources of oil, gas and coal are harmful to our health and the environment. They are also not sustainable in a world of growing energy needs.

In conclusion, a transition to a green economy can assist in overcoming the contribution that the population makes to the depletion of scarce natural resources. The world's least developed countries are more strongly affected by environmental degradation than most other developing countries. We and they therefore have much to gain from the transition to a green economy. [Applause.]

Mrs N W MAGADLA


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Mr D A WORTH

Mrs N W MAGADLA: Hon House Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi, permanent and special delegates, and distinguished guests - they have left. It is fitting that we should hold this debate today, as this day marks the celebration and remembrance of World Environment Day. It is a day that was established by the UN General Assembly to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.

The theme for this debate is clear and straightforward and will play a critical role in guiding the proceedings of this year's debate so that it will take centre stage in and among all the issues raised. Furthermore, it will set the tone for reflection and introspection on the gains that have been made in safeguarding and preserving our environment against all forms of degradation.

Hon Chair, you must remember that Section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic educates our nation on the importance of the environment and sustainable development. Over and above that, this constitutional provision states:

Everyone has the right –

to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing; and to have the environment protected ....

We are confident that this constitutional provision has served as a guiding tool to educate our people to be more informed about their environmental rights.

The Constitution regards the environment as a public trust, to be conserved and protected for the benefit of all. In order to value the concept of World Environment Day, one has to understand what the environment is. I agree with the Deputy Minister that "environment" is the surroundings or conditions we live in. This includes the physical elements, such as the physical environment or built environment around us, and the natural environment, which will generally be the air, water, land, atmosphere, etc.

We should use this debate to empower each other on issues of the environment and also make a collaborative effort of sustaining our environment. I indicated earlier that we should do everything in our power to preserve the environment we live in against all forms of pollution - the Deputy Minister also referred to this.

Pollution is the process in which various harmful substances are added to the environment, by human and natural activities. This includes environmental problems such as the reduction of natural resources, water pollution and global warming that result mainly from human activities. As public representatives, we should do our part for the earth through environmental conservation. Conservation involves minimising negative impacts on the environment.

We should develop practical ways to conserve the environment, by safeguarding the following natural resources: The first is water. Our country is defined as water stressed, with an uneven distribution of water availability across the country, and it lacks significant groundwater resources.

The second is air. Our developing country needs to manage air pollution. It also requires sustainable economic growth to ensure development. The Air Quality Act of 2004 sets out to protect and enhance air quality in South Africa and to secure ecologically sustainable development, through reasonable air pollution prevention measures. This can be achieved through the development of air quality management plans and by involving all spheres of our government. As part of exercising our oversight role, we should monitor the implementation of the green economy plan, which was developed for the environment sector. It is important that we follow up on the implementation of the resolutions of the summit held by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs.

We cannot conclude this debate without mentioning the impacts and effects of climate change on our environment. Climate change is now one of the most far-reaching sustainable development issues of our times, with implications for the global environment and global socioeconomic development for decades to come.

As a nation, we must strive to maintain a balance between development and environmental conservation. We need the environment more than it needs us and, as a result, we should protect our environment for the benefit of present and future generations. Let us enjoy World Environment Day. [Applause.]

Mr M W MAKHUBELA


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Mrs N W MAGADLA

Mr M W MAKHUBELA: Chairperson, Deputy Minister and hon members, World Environment Day is about celebrating our own survival as humans. It is not some strange phenomenon far removed from us. It is here with us. It is about improving our own wellbeing and social equality. In the process, we need to find ways and means to best use the resources available to us. It is about how to use water, optimise land use and how we can collectively reduce environmental risks in order to create a green economy.

In Limpopo, where I come from, the environment has changed drastically. In the olden days, we used to swim in the rivers and we never contracted any disease. Nowadays, the environment is very, very poor. Why? Because of us - we are not preserving it for our children.

In one of the places in Lwamondo - Thovhele can back me up - we used to walk underneath big trees during midday and we were able to read the stars at night. Do we still do such things now? No, because we did not preserve them.

Limpopo, where the hon Thovhele Tshivhase lives, is, fortunately enough, a wonderful place. We have the Fundudzi Lake, into which the Mutale River flows. The water in this river is crystal clear - you can even see the fish inside it. It is the only place where you find a river that flows from east to west - that is the Nzhelele River. We don't have that in any other country. Let us preserve it.

Do you know what happened in the mountains at Tshikwarani in Makhado? In 1954, all the vultures used to fly to the Kruger National Park to feed early in the morning. They probably flew back at night - I do not know. Let us teach our children to be observant and that when they observe such things, they should record them. [Applause.] It seems as if we failed to inherit these things from our ancestors. We must now inherit them for our children because they must take it into the future.

I am happy that we have what we call Mapungubwe. The national government and the ruling party created the Order of Mapungubwe. This is also part of the environment. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Ms B A MATSHOGE


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Mr M W MAKHUBELA

Ms B A MATSHOGE (Limpopo): Hon Chairperson, Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi, MECs from various provinces, members of this august House, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. In 1998, poet Wendell Berry said the following:

It is the destruction of the world in our own lives that drives us half insane, and more than half.

To destroy that which we were given in trust: how will we bear it? ...

To have lost, wantonly, the ancient forests, the vast grasslands in our madness, the presence in our very bodies of our grief.

With eloquence, he captures the anguish of our experience of loss in the wake of accelerating ecological deterioration. Our grief and emotional loss as a reaction to environmental decline is an idea that rarely appears in conversations of the popular media, neither does it circulate widely in the discourse of contemporary society.

Given the progressive destruction of our biosphere, research shows that people today are aware that the world as they know it may come to an end. As this intuition deepens and begins to percolate into our awareness, it undermines our sense of certainty about the future of our children and the planet's wellbeing, sprouting blossoms of fear and anticipatory grief.

Section 24 of the Constitution says everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing, and to have that environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations. People are dependent on the natural environment for meeting all their needs, and therefore interactions between the people and the environment cannot be separated. What is important is to understand the impact of using resources and how to manage them, so that human and environmental needs can be met, now and in the future.

It is my pleasure, as a member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature, to stand and talk to this august House about public awareness of environmental protection. We are one important stakeholder in environmental protection activities.

The hon Makhubela has said a mouthful. I will remind the House that the ultimate goal of the preservation of the environment is to achieve the concept of sustainable development, economic development, social justice and environmental protection reinforces one another and must go hand in hand. Involving the public is vital in the process.

It is increasingly becoming clear that there is a connection between environmental consideration and economic competitiveness. Countries that reconcile their environment and economy will enjoy definite economic advantage. To achieve this, we need to be more creative and innovative in our actions.

Setswana:

Puso e eteletsweng pele ke ANC e dirile go tlala seatla ...

English:

... to have our environment protected. As we speak here in this august House, the SA Constitution guarantees the right to a safe and healthy environment and new legislation has been promulgated to protect or enhance environmental quality such as the National Environmental Management Plan and Air Quality Acts.

Our country, South Africa, is a signatory to a wide range of international agreements and protocols, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Montreal Protocols on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Basel Convention, dealing with the control of the transboundary movement of hazardous waste. Our government has also banned the use of asbestos in our homes, phased out leaded petrol and regulated the use of lead in paint.

Through the Tobacco Product Control Act of 1993 and participation in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, South Africa became a global leader in the prevention of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.

Environmental impact assessments are now a prerequisite for large industrial development. Also, the implementation plan of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, emphasised this and called for the creation of more effective national and regional policy responses to environmental threats to health, which may include intersectoral action and integrated monitoring, just to mention a few.

The architecture of our economy is changing as we develop new engines of economic growth. We are relying more and more on heavy industry, which put pressure on our mother earth. We have moved from highly visible industrial companies towards more hidden service sectors. We want to attract investors to settle in our country, where environmental quality will be one of the criteria they will choose before moving in.

Consumerism is on the rise, bringing with it higher resource consumption and waste generation. We, as government, must take the lead in encouraging environmental awareness. We must make South Africa conscious of the need to change bad habits and drive the message that the environment is every citizen's responsibility. Nongovermental organisations, the media, private sector and local government must also take the lead.

The emphasis is to urge individuals to take responsibility for the environment and encourage everybody to drive activities. Together we must enable our country to attain the highest level of environmental quality as a means to enhance the quality of life of South Africans, preserve our natural environment and advance our competitiveness. This could only be achieved through continued innovation and vibrant partnerships and collaborations of all the stakeholders.

We must aim for an environmental consciousness that will mature into personal responsibility for environmental protection. What better way than starting with the young, who will inherit the future of this country. If we can foster a sustained interest in environmental protection in our young people, we would have laid a good foundation for a generation of South Africans that is more conscious and engaged in the protection of the environment.

Activities have to be initiated to engage young people of all ages on issues pertaining to the environment and to organise activities in educational institutions. Also, role models in our societies need to be recognised. We can launch an award scheme to recognise outstanding individuals, organisations and companies that are role models in the area of environmental protection.

We also want to applaud our Deputy Minister for her aggressive approach in ensuring that our youth is absorbed in various departments and municipalities for two-and-a-half years. Let us develop an effective partnership that will result in environmental stewardship for the overall improvement of environmental conditions and of the quality of the lives of our people in South Africa. [Applause.]

Ms M ROSHO


UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 39


Ms B A MATSHOGE

Ms M ROSHO (North West): Hon Chairperson, hon members, permanent delegates, distinguished guests, the Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi, good afternoon. As I pay homage on behalf of the North West province, let us all be reminded of the journey that we have travelled over the past 18 years in jealously preserving the environment through strengthening our collective efforts to deepen public awareness of the need to preserve the environment.

In terms of section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of SA, everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing and to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations. It is not a coincidence that World Environment Day is celebrated during the build-up to the commemoration of June 16, which marks the role of the 1976 generation in fighting for, among other things, the right to a clean environment. We, as government, have a duty to make our people aware of this right to ensure that measures are put in place to protect and manage our natural environment.

In support of the above, the North West provincial government is committed to implementing the national and provincial priorities through legislation, policies and strategies that will lead to the strengthening of our relationship with the public sector to increase and deepen awareness and participation in environmental issues. Among other strategic documents that we are using as a guide is the Strategic Plan for the Environmental Sector, 2009-2014. We are also responding to Outcome 12, which relates to the environmental assets and natural resources that are well protected and continually enhanced.

As a guide, we are using the North West Environmental Implementation Plan 2008-2012 and the strategic plan of the department. In all the above-mentioned policies and strategies, communication and awareness within both government and society are being raised as very important aspects for inclusion in our daily activities and planning. This is emphasised in the Strategic Plan for the Environmental Sector, 2009-2014, which states:

There is a need for the environment sector to become more effective in communicating its role and the value of the environment to the rest of society and to continue to increase its activities in the area of environment education.

There is recognition that substantial public participation has taken place in policy development, but more can still be done. The participation of rural communities is important, but it has been inadequate in the past. These groups have been severely constrained regarding access to information, communication networks, transport and participatory processes. However, more emphasis is now put on engaging poor communities by creating a platform for them to participate.

Currently, there are several initiatives aimed at facilitating input in policy and decision-making, as well as raising the general awareness on environmental issues in the North West province. In this financial year, we are initiating two sustainable livelihood projects. The devil's claw project in the Vryburg area seeks to remove the alien plant species that have infested the two World Heritage Sites in our province, the Vredefort Dome and the Taung Skull area. With the alien plants project, we intend training 20 youths to make furniture and crafts from the logs cut during the clearing of alien plants.

Other projects we are busy with during the current financial year are aimed at deepening our awareness programmes through workshops and education on environmental issues by targeting environmental educators. As part of celebrations of World Environment Day, we are also targeting career exhibitions, which are conducted in partnership with the Department of Education and the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. However, Deputy Minister, as the North West, we also have an interest in biodiversity programmes. We welcome your pronouncement that there will be a roll-out of biodiversity learnership programmes, which will assist in unlocking transformation in the sector of biodiversity.

We intend establishing 13 new environmental youth clubs as part of our awareness programme. The intention is to recruit 400 new members for environmental youth clubs in the province. We will conduct campaigns in the province, one of which is the World Environment Day campaign. With these campaigns, we will raise awareness among communities on specific projects and support them in initiating some projects to address environmental problems in their localities.

We will be celebrating the provincial World Environment Day on 7 June in the Hartbeespoort Dam area. At this event we will be educating people about the green economy concept and we hope to forge partnerships with the private sector to ensure a successful roll-out of livelihood projects. We look forward to visits to these projects by you and some of your officials.

We are working in partnership with Eskom and Salga to roll out the energy efficiency programmes. The aim is to have key government and municipal buildings retrofitted to be energy friendly. We will conduct workshops in all districts to educate officials on options that are available and assist them in planning for the retrofitting and installation of energy-saving appliances like solar energy geysers, energy and water-friendly shower roses and heat pumps.

As the North West government, I must also indicate that we will continue engaging with relevant stakeholders to ensure that Magaliesburg is listed as a biosphere by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco. Biospheres assist in promoting and demonstrating good relations between humans and the environment. We believe that Magaliesburg offers a unique geological landscape, a rich biodiversity and a history of human evolution that should be enjoyed by all of us, including future generations.

We must also appreciate the partnership of the national Department of Water and Environmental Affairs with local municipalities to establish buy-back centres in North West. In particular, in this financial year we are looking at Mafikeng, the capital city of North West. We will appreciate more resources being directed to the North West as far as that project is concerned because we need to preserve the environment within the capital city of the North West province.

Among other villages that we are targeting with regard to buy-back centres is Mfidikwe village, where we will establish recycling projects. We are targeting 60 participants, which include women, young people and people with disabilities. We hope that the national department will reinforce the commitment by the ruling party to create job opportunities and better lives for all and to ensure that there is sustainable development through environmental projects. We are looking forward to your support.

We also want to invite hon members, our permanent delegates from the North West province, to visit some of these projects as part of their oversight work to ensure that we respond to the call of conserving the environment in North West. I must also mention that these projects - the buy-back centres in Mfidikwe, in particular - have already been established around Bojanala in Rustenburg and Mafikeng. They will create job opportunities and change the lives of our people in our province. These initiatives seek to ensure that we deepen public awareness to preserve the environment.

The North West province will continue to support and bring forward initiatives on environmental projects. We can all do more.

Mr G G MOKGORO


UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 40


Ms M ROSHO (North West)

MS M ROSHO

Mr G G MOKGORO: Chair, Deputy Minister, hon Mabudafhasi, delegates from various provinces, let me first take this opportunity to join millions of people across the country and the world in celebrating 40 years of World Environment Day. This is indeed a milestone in our efforts, as a country and the world at large, to preserve our environment.

Celebrating this day is a reminder for all of us to be grateful for how we, people of the world, have benefited from our environment. Indeed, the environment is an important force that shapes our lives. Human beings and the environment are two sides of the same coin. Our lives are dependent on the environment and, on the other hand, the environment depends on us as human beings to harness and preserve it.

The theme for this important debate is "Strengthening our collective efforts to deepen public awareness and the need to preserve the environment". Maybe, as part of engaging in this debate, we need to take stock of how far we have come in addressing and highlighting environmental issues in the past 40 years so that, going forward, we are not found fumbling but focused on the issues at hand.

Let me briefly look at two basic environmental issues, which I believe to be very close and fundamental to any living being for its survival. These are issues that we as South Africans and as the peoples of the world have been grappling with for years in our efforts to preserve our environment, namely water and land.

As the most critical resource of our country, water - and the extent to which there is a growing need to preserve it - has for years not been valued adequately in our lives as individuals and as a country. People have been wasting and continue to waste water left, right and centre, without being ashamed. Our supply of fresh water as a country is stretched almost to its limit, while on the other hand there is a growing demand for it. Population growth and increased land use make matters worse.

Land is another critical issue for the country and for years we have not valued it highly enough. Because of the ways in which people use land, our human activities continue to contribute to land degradation instead of trying to sustain it.

These are just two of the greatly worrying environmental challenges that are very close to my heart. Indeed, our theme for today's debate speaks directly to these challenges and calls upon all of us to change our behaviour and begin embarking on programmes and activities that will contribute to the sustainable use of water, land and other scarce resources.

In celebrating this day, the UN Environment Programme puts it this way:

Through World Environment Day, the UNEP is able to personalise environmental issues and enable everyone to realise not only their responsibility but also their power to become agents of change in support of sustainable and equitable development.

It goes on to say:

World Environment Day is also a day for people from all walks of life to come together to ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for themselves and future generations.

For us to be able to contribute effectively to preserving our environment, as the theme for today's debate demands, we need to understand the importance of developing interventions such as the following: Local government must be provided with a budget to have a unit within its system of governance that will take care of the preservation of a clean environment. There must be clearly written signs everywhere and over a broad range, reminding the public of the impact of the environment on our lives. Lastly, municipalities must develop strategies that will enable individuals to see the need for contributing to the preservation of our environment.

In conclusion, let me again take from the world environment programme, which says:

Everyone counts in this initiative and World Environment Day relies on you to make this happen! We call for action - organise a neighbourhood clean-up, stop using plastic bags and get your community to do the same, plant a tree or, better yet, organise a collective tree-planting effort, walk to work, start a recycling drive ... The possibilities are endless.

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS


UNREVISED HANSARD

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Take: 41


Mr G G MOKGORO

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: Chairperson, I would like to start by saying that I can see that the environment unites us because it is about all of our lives. It does not matter which political party you belong to, nor does your colour and such things. It unites us because we have to do one thing: we have to save our lives and conserve the lives of our children and future generations.

Let me just comment on a few remarks made here. Hon Worth, yes, you are so right. With regard to the catastrophes of climate change that we are seeing, it must not be business as usual. If it is, we will be killing ourselves. You spoke about creating awareness, which is very important. You also spoke about the importance of conserving fish stocks, which is why we have marine protected areas, where no one may fish so that we can restock. However, we have the problem of climate change. The ocean's water temperature has changed in such a way that the fish from Namibia have come down to you Capetonians. You are getting fish here that come from there. Now, in Namibia, they are without fish. Certain species are becoming extinct because of climate change and water becoming warmer. That is why we are thinking of creating more marine protected areas, so that we are able to get more fish.

Hon Makhubela, you are right and you are supporting us. You mentioned indigenous knowledge and all those beautiful things. However, we must keep on preaching. Lake Fundudzi is now threatened by people who are planting orchards next to it. According to our indigenous knowledge, nobody should plant within a certain distance from the lake, and those orchards do not belong to the communities based there. They belong to people who can afford to have orchards there. So, we must continue to fight the pollution that is all over our rivers.

The Working for Water programme creates employment because we make school desks and beautiful furniture that everybody wants. Some of the plants even have medicinal properties.

On the issue of waste, we have a project under way in the North West. When we wanted to do the city and the villages, we were told that the city was taken care of. So we then did the villages. I am sure you know of the project I launched there, and it is going quite well. However, that is water under the bridge and we are going to assist you. Actually, my public participation programme is coming to the North West. Before long we will be there.

Hon member, I learned your new name: Veteran G G. [Laughter.] Yes, you are - we started together! You're right: Our country is water stressed. That is why we are recycling, conserving and doing desalination. Municipalities are spending a lot of money on water that is unaccounted for because of leaks, burst pipes and old infrastructure. That is why we have launched the war on leaks. Municipalities that are participating are paying less money as a result, while creating employment and educating our youth, which is the group we are targeting.

On the environment side, we have a lot of activities this month. I am happy and excited today, and I congratulate you heartily for thinking of holding this wonderful debate about World Environment Day in the NCOP today. We have World Oceans Day coming up, which will be held in East London. Those of you who are from there, I will be there on Friday, 8 June. On 17 June, it is World Day to Combat Desertification, and then, of course, Rio+20 is also coming up.

When it comes to the issue of early warnings, we do have early warning systems for our climate. The SA Weather Service is educating communities in general and engaging relevant structures to ensure the more effective dissemination of severe weather information, as well as planning better disaster management. We know we lost people and property, especially in the East Rand, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Midlands - that is why we started with this. We are doing a road show on this - educating the community about what we must and must not do. So, education and awareness raisingshould go on.

We also have the Winter Clean Fires Campaign, something that we have been talking about. I am happy that they are doing it in some areas, especially in informal settlements, because they are using coal and this campaign is coal-based. Udubasa njengomagogo - make your fire upside down. According to tests conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, it has been discovered that smoke is reduced by 80% if you start with coal and put wood on top when you make a fire. You can come for a demonstration next time! [Laughter.] I usually do it.

Regarding our social responsibility programmes, we will recruit 200 interns again in the current financial year through our youth development programme. Another 100 young people will be trained and assisted to formulate a registered joint venture, to be able to bid for the provision of services in the department. We have many young people on the streets - they have potential. When you engage them, you find that they dropped out for some reason or another. Let us encourage and train them. We can assist them to become entrepreneurs themselves.

We have the Kids in Parks programme, which seeks to enhance access for learners and educators into South Africa's national parks, particularly people from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. We had 4 882 learners and 209 educators visiting national parks. We are continuing with this programme. For the current financial year, we are targeting 5 000 learners for this programme. So, make sure your province is also there.

We will also intensify our careers outreach programme to enhance the interests of learners in environment-related careers. As I have mentioned, our department also has a school-based environmental education programme, which we are implementing with the Department of Basic Education as part of Caps.

The Waste Management Officers Khoro, which some of you attended, is an annual conference of all government institutions. We had it in Limpopo; we are going to have it every year. We will invite you, so that you can also participate. Some of you came last year.

We also have an Environmental Management Inspectorate lekgotla - the Green Scorpions are doing good work. When you drive around on weekends – on Saturdays or Sundays - near Sasol or such industries, you will see that they take a chance. You can see the black smoke blowing. That is because they don't use their clean technology. They always have someone out there and they think that we are not there, watching. I usually call them at 4am or 5am and say, "This or that chimney is blowing black smoke!" I surprise them. All of us are ambassadors for the environment. We have to work together to clean up our country.

With regard to recycling, one aspect I forgot to talk about is the issue of PET bottles. I have been talking to many people about this but we as leaders also need to be ambassadors of this cause, wherever we are. Do you know they can make clothes out of water and cooldrink bottles? I have got such an item. We are trying to roll this out because municipalities can collect or have collection points for these bottles. A small one has started in Ekurhuleni - they are making t-shirts from PET bottles. So, we would be creating employment. If we come together, we can make it.

I am sure you saw how emotional our women members and comrades became when they spoke here. We become very emotional when we talk about the environment because we are the custodians of the environment. We are the ones who fetch water. We are the ones who know about the trees. We are the ones who know what is good and what is not. We are the custodians - that is why we say "mother earth", not "father earth". [Laughter.] [Applause.]

Nevertheless, I want to thank all members and the chairperson of the select committee. Thank you very much for the support. I love the environment because it unites us; it is about the lives of all of us. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

The Council adjourned at 17:42.


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