Hansard: NA: Mini-plenary 1
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 18 May 2022
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
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MINI PLENARY - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
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VOTE NO 40 – TRANSPORT
Watch: Mini-plenary
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINI-PLENARY SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
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Members of the mini-plenary session met on the virtual platform at 14:00.
The House Chairperson Ms M G Boroto took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayer or meditation.
The Chairperson announced that the virtual mini-plenary sitting constituted a meeting of the National Assembly.
VIRTUAL MINI-PLENARY SITTING CONSTITUTES MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
(Announcement)
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Thank you, hon members. Hon members, before we proceed, I would like to remind you that the virtual mini-plenary is deemed to be in the precinct of Parliament and it constitutes a meeting of the National Assembly for debating purposes only. In addition to the Rules
of the virtual sittings, the Rules of the National Assembly including the rules of the debate shall apply. Members enjoy the same powers and privileges that apply in a sitting of the National Assembly. Members should equally note that anything said in the virtual platform is deemed to have been said to
the House and may be ruled upon.
All members who have logged in shall be considered to be present and are requested to mute their microphones and only unmute it when recognised to speak. This is because the microphones are very sensitive and will pick up any noise which might disturb the attention of other members. When you
are recognised to speak, please unmute your microphone and connect your video. We will understand in terms of the power and people might experience load shedding. You might just have informed that you won’t be able to open your video. Members may also make use of the icons on the bars at the bottom of their screens which has the option that allows a member to put up his or her hand to raise points of order. The secretariat will assist in alerting the Chairperson when members are requesting to speak. When using the virtual system, members are urged to refrain or desist from unnecessary points of order or interjections. Hon members, we shall now proceed to the Order, which is a debate on Vote No 40: Transport Appropriation Bill. I will now invite the hon Minister of Transport, hon Mbalula. You may proceed, hon Mbalula. I think you are still muted.
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 40 – Transport:
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Can you hear me now, House Chair? The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Yes, hon Minister, we now can hear you although your camera, I don’t know because it’s black somehow. However, you may proceed.
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: You can’t see me. Thank you, hon House Chair, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, hon Mosebenzi Zwane, Deputy Minister, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga, Chairpersons of Transport entities and chief executive officers, CEOs, present here today, hon members and fellow South Africans, I must thank the Portfolio Committee on Transport for its robust and uncompromising oversight. Your leadership and guidance has kept us on a path that places the aspirations of the people at the centre of development and service delivery. Allow me to also congratulate the newly elected leadership of the South African National Taxi Council, Santaco, Mr Abner Tsebe, and his leadership collective on the successful electoral conference that ushered in the new leadership. The profound words of the renowned American poet, novelist and activist, Maya Angelou, set the tone for our Budget Vote this year, when she said, I quote: I’ve learned that people will not forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. This is the essence of our approach to service delivery. Delivering services that people can see, can experience and more importantly, transform their lives in ways that make them feel the progress we are making. At the beginning of the term of the Sixth Administration, we identified five Ministerial priorities which define the change agenda that are not only meant to change the way we approach service delivery, but by
focusing on tangible deliverables, but also to give practical expression to accelerated service delivery. Over the medium-term the department’s planned expenditure will increase at an average annual rate of 7,7%. This means an increase from R69,1 billion in 2022-23 to R81,6 billion in 2024-25. We have,
in the recent past, agreed that the challenges experienced by our people cannot be adequately addressed unless we exponentially improve the capacity of the state to deliver services efficiently.
Ensuring that those entrusted with the responsibility to deliver on our service delivery mandate across all our entities and the department have the requisite skills and arefit for purpose is non-negotiable. The road transport programme facilitates activities related to the maintenance of the country’s national and provincial road network. An allocation of R76,4 billion goes to the South African National Roads Agency, Sanral. Transfers to Sanral account for 33,5% of the department’s budget over the medium-term and 65,5% of the budget of the road transport programme.
Over the medium-term, R45,3 billion or 59,3% of the allocation to Sanral is budgeted to upgrade, strengthen and refurbish the national nontoll roads network. An amount of R2,8 billion is allocated for the R573, better known as Moloto Road. A budget of R3,7 billion is allocated for the N2 Wild Coast project and R2,1 billion allocated to fund reduced tariffs for the Gauteng freeway improvement project. We have been working closely with the Minister of Finance to finalise outstanding matters that will enable the final determination by Cabinet on the funding of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement project, better known as e-tolls. We are alive to the adverse impact the delay in making the final decision on e-tolls has on the Sanral balance sheet and its ability to raise capital for its catalytic projects. This is a matter Cabinet ... [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Oh, sorry, you may proceed, Minister.
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Thank you. They have been working closely with the Minister of Finance to finalise the outstanding matters that will enable the finalisation by Cabinet on the funding of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement project. This is a matter Cabinet has on its radar and a pronouncement will be made once the final decision has been taken. I can report that the decision is eminent and I’ve made the fact that it took us a long time. The maintenance of provincial and municipal roads remains one of our biggest challenges. Schedule 5 of the Constitution provides that provincial roads are an area of exclusive provincial legislative competence, while municipal roads are exclusive municipal functions. Despite these provisions, the national sphere of government has a responsibility to ensure that these roads are managed within a framework of national norms and standards to maximise their role in enabling economic activity and access to social amenities. The maintenance of provincial roads is largely funded through the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant, with an allocation of R37,4 billion over the medium-term. Over the medium-term, we have earmarked resources to finance the acquisition of a central roads data repository that will provide a comprehensive and uniform overview of the state of
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South Africa’s provincial roads. We are committed to provide
the necessary support to ensure that there is adequate
capacity to deliver roads that enable citizens to access
centres of economic activity and social infrastructure.
Through our collective efforts, with the private sector and
civil society, we will embrace creative solutions to
decisively tackle potholes that have become a defining
character of our secondary and tertiary road networks. This
financial year, we will reprioritise our resources to
establish a project management unit that will serve as an
engineering and project management knowledge repository to
assist provinces and municipalities in giving traction to
projects funded through the conditional grants.
This unit will also serve as a hub to monitor and track our
portfolio of capital projects across all our amenities. We
will ensure requisite support on capital programmes of our
entities. This unit will tap into engineering and project
management collective capacity of all our entities reinforced
by collaboration with our organs of state. Our efforts to
reduce carnage on our roads by 25% in 2024, remain firmly on
track. We have been making steady progress with the reduction
of fatalities by 20,27% in 2019-20, and 19,73% in 2020-21 and
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20,02% in the first three quarters of the 2021-22 financial
year. Although the reduction is largely attributed to reduced
traffic volumes due to coronavirus disease 2019, Covid-19,
restrictions, the increased visibility of our officers on the
roads also played a significant part. We are making progress
towards classifying traffic policing as a 24-7-day job with
several provinces having scheduled resolutions by their
executive councils to this effect. The completion of this
process will enable us to table the matter before the General
Public Sector Bargaining Council during this year.
As a lead agency in traffic law enforcement, the allocation to
the Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, increases from
R224 million in 2022 to R229 million in 2024. The allocation
for the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, RTIA, decreases from
R174 million in 2022 to R159 million in 2024 with anticipated
new revenue streams once the Administration Adjudication of
Traffic Offences Act is fully implemented. Over the last five
years, the operating model of the Road Accident Fund, which
was anchored around litigation, saw the actuarial liability of
the Road Accident Fund, Raf, increase exponentially. To
address this unsustainable model, the Raf adopted a new
strategic plan in the 2020-21 financial year.
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Through this plan, a new operating model was adopted, which
was anchored on reducing legal costs, and therefore a move
away from litigation to claims management, thus prioritising
early investigation and settlement of claims within 120 days.
In addition, the Raf has put efforts on the reduction of
medical costs by, amongst others, developing Raf medical
tariffs, implementing treatment protocols and introducing
medical preauthorisation. The Raf is also looking for cost
effective ways to reimburse medical service providers when
road accident victims seek medical care in both the private
and public sector. These will be finalised once consultations
with the Department of Health have been concluded.
In the last year, we committed to a process to rationalise our
road traffic entities in order to achieve maximum efficiency
and alignment of related functions through institutional
realignment. This exercise will be premised on a sound
business case which will look at the mandates and
institutional arrangements in relation to the RTMC, RTIA,
Driving Licence Card Account, DLCA, Cross-Border Road
Transport Agency, C-BRTA. Improving efficiencies at DLTC level
will be driven by a new service delivery model that will not
only improve the experience of the motorist but will
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drastically cut down turnaround times. These will range from
the time a motorist spends at a DLTC to the time it takes to
receive a driving licence. We have already implemented the
online payment system, eliminating another queue the motorists
would have spent time on in the past.
The deployment of smart enrolment and infrastructure this
financial year will further improve the processing time as the
units are linked to Home Affairs real time to validate the
identity of the motorist. The RTMC is finalising the agreement
with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, which
would enable motorists to do an eye test at an optometrist of
their choice, and results are directly uploaded in the system.
We have made notable progress in tackling the backlog in the
printing of cards. We have already eliminated the backlog
caused by the breakdown of the machine in November 2021.
Since January 2022, the Driving Licence Card Account has
produced 1 026 674 cards. As on 16 May 2022, we remain with a
backlog of 526 841 cards. With the additional capacity we
have introduced at DLCA, we are confident that this backlog
will be addressed by the end of June 2022. We remain resolute
in our commitment to deliver a public transport system that is
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responsive to the needs of our people. Our primary objective
is to position public transport as an enabler to achieve a
three-shift economy that will accelerate our economic recovery
interventions.
The implementation of Integrated Public Transport Networks,
IPTNs, in various cities has not been without problems.
Capacity challenges in some of the cities have given rise to
complications that have either delayed or stalled progress.
The suspension of the cities of Msunduzi, Buffalo City and
Mbombela had the effect of delaying delivery of a public
transport that is responsive to the needs of our people. We
have committed that we will work with these cities to assist
them in complying with the National Treasury requirements to
get back in the fold of the Public Transport Network.
The rollout of the IPTNs will be equally strengthened by the
establishment of an oversight mechanism under the leadership
of the Minister and political principals of the relevant
cities implementing IPTNs. This will ensure that
accountability for the implementation of the Integrated Public
Transport Networks is pitched at high level. Seven cities are
already operational and are working towards expanding current
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services. These are the City of Cape Town, George, Ekurhuleni,
Johannesburg, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay and Polokwane. Three
additional cities are working towards the launch of new
services. These are Rustenburg, Mangaung and eThekwini.
eThekwini is currently experiencing challenges due to
unsuccessful negotiations with the taxi operators on the
affected routes.
Over the medium-term, all 10 cities are expected to be fully
operational with expansions to directly serve major cities.
Transfers to the cities of the Public Transport Network grant
are set to increase at an average annual rate of 14,3%, from
R6 billion in 2022-23 to R7,7 billion in 2024-25.
Over the medium-term, R76 million has been allocated towards
expanding the capacity for public transport grant monitoring.
The department has commenced with the process to procure
expert and technical services to monitor, oversee and fast-
track implementation at a city level and improve efficiency
and probity. Cities and provinces must deliver on their public
transport executive obligations. This section empowers the
Minister to take appropriate steps, that include issuing
directives to provincial executive and municipal councils,
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when a province or a municipality cannot or does not fulfil an
executive obligation relating to public transport.
We are on course in the implementation of the National Taxi
Lekgotla resolutions. Key among these is the finalisation of
the subsidy policy underpinned by a public transport funding
model that recognises the role of the taxi industry in the
public transport value chain. The draft policy will be
submitted to Cabinet in June 2022, to pave way for a broader
consultation process towards finalisation. Our public
transport infrastructure is in a major state of disrepair
because of theft and vandalism that has crippled our rail
recovery interventions. The criminals who continue to
undermine our efforts to provide a reliable commuter rail
services must face the full might of the law. Their conduct
not only negatively affects workers who rely on this mode, but
also cripples the economy.
We have equally called for the ban of scrap metal exports
which provide a perverse incentive for this criminality. We
remain ready to work with the Minister of Trade, Industry and
Competition to ensure that such a ban becomes a reality. The
implementation of our multi-disciplinary security
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interventions has gained traction, with the employment of the
full complement of 3 100 securities at Prasa personnel and the
construction of walls in certain sections of the rail network
and fencing in others to contain what has historically been an
open network. In recognising the centrality of providing
affordable, safe and reliable public transport services,
capital transfers to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa
will increase from R12,6 billion in 2022-23 to R13,5 billion
in 2024-25. These funds will be channelled towards
refurbishment of coaches, rolling stock fleet renewal
programme, signalling and other capital projects which
includes security of the rail infrastructure.
Operational transfers to Prasa are expected to increase from
R7,2 billion in 2022-23 to R7,8 billion in 2024-25. In
recovering commuter rail services, we had to adjust the
timelines for the resumption of services in a number of these
corridors due to either protracted procurement processes for
infrastructure such as substations and other factors beyond
our control. The Mabopane, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Naledi is a
core network of Prasa in Gauteng and a major priority ...
[Interjections.]
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The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Hon Minister, my
apologies. Let me just say it to other members that when I
switch on my video be sure that you have one minute left to
wrap up. I’m sorry, I didn’t say this before.
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Should I wrap up?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): No, it’s done, now. I
had long put my face on, but because I didn’t warn you, my
apologies.
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Okay, thank you, House Chair. Thank
you very much. [Applause.]
Mr M J ZWANE: Hon House Chair, Mme M G Boroto, hon Minister of
Transport Mr Fikile Mbalula, Deputy Minister of Transport Mme
Sindisiwe Chikunga and all the colleagues who made it with us
here today, good afternoon to all of you. The Budget Vote for
Transport takes place at the time where South Africa is slowly
recovering from a number of disasters. The latest are the
floods that mostly affected the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Our
heartfelt condolences go to all the families that lost their
loved ones during these floods. We also want to send our
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condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones
during various accidents on our roads, skies and everywhere
where transport is involved. The committee takes note of
damages caused by these disasters and appreciate measures
taken by the department to repair the lost infrastructure
through the implementation of the economic reconstruction and
recovery plan. We want to however plead with the department to
ensure that this programme succeeds as it is clear that
without a full recovery of the infrastructure programme the
department cannot bring about the inclusive economic growth
and development premised in the transformation that is
critical to overcome the triple challenge of poverty,
inequality and unemployment.
The department has been doing well to fulfill its mandate
especially when it comes to the civil aviation legislation
regulations. The entities under the department are guided on
the basis of world-class standards of all modes of transport.
This is also a case when it comes to the licensing of modes of
transport to ensure effective economic regulation of the
sector.
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The department has been allocated R69 billion for its budget
for this year for the seven programmes which are critical to
ensure that ... [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): I’m sorry to disturb
you, hon Zwane. I think you are not alone in that room and the
sounds which are in that room are really disturbing. There is
work and other things happening. Please, can the people in the
room give us the decorum of the House. You may proceed.
Mr M J ZWANE: ... programmes which are critical to road, rail,
maritime and civil aviation. The department will have to
transfer some of this budget to its entities and it is
critical that the department monitor the implementation of
programmes taken by those entities.
This budge should bring relieve to the poor state of our roads
especially provincial and local roads as witnessed by the
committee during its oversight visit to Mpumalanga, North West
and KwaZulu-Natal recently. Our rural roads have become
something else and the department needs to co-ordinate the
other spheres of government, as the Minister has said, to
attend to these roads.
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The department has been unable to achieve all its targets in
the previous financial year and has been underspending in some
cases. The department need to fill critical vacancies to
enable itself to be in capacity to tackle the above mentioned
challenges. The department can only be able to build better
workforce through this process and ensure efficiency. It is
also prudent for the department to ensure that boards are
appointed on time to ensure direction for the entities. The
same plea goes for the appointment of entities’ chief
executive officers. Stability in this regard will take the
department far.
The committee continue to urge the department to get closer to
entities like the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa,
Prasa, and those that are struggling and lend a helping hand
to ensure economic spin-offs for those who continue to use
rail as a means to get to work. We are well aware of the
efforts taken by the department, but in this case more need to
be done.
Without seeing the face of the hon House Chairperson on the
screen, let me conclude. [Laughter.] The committee takes note
that the budget allocated to the department may not be
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sufficient to resolve all the challenges faced by the
department, but this budget, if used effectively and
efficiently, it surely can take the department somewhere and
benefit the people of South Africa. The ANC supports this
Budget Vote. I thank you, House Chair.
Mr C H H HUNSINGER: Hon House Chairperson, following his
recent visit to Ukraine, leader John Steenhuisen made one of
the most surprising remarks. Despite the war and destruction,
the electricity flow is maintained, roads are cleaned, trains
are moving and bridges are being repaired. The government of
Ukraine is focused on preserving infrastructure with the
citizens supporting the preservation and repair.
In contrast, we here in South Africa, are fighting a war
against ourselves with several unrealised ideas, crime,
corruption, vandalism, management incompetency and lousy
leadership. This 2022/23 Transport Budget Report is identical
to previous editions – strongly resembling the traditional
format of a copy and paste edition in which, unsurprisingly,
the words “service delivery” does not appear once.
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Two components of implementation facilitate Transport’s budget
functions to the people. The first is via the 12 entities
under the Department of Transport and the second component of
the implementation of transport functions happens through
provinces. As a result, public transport is a shared national
and provincial responsibility under schedule 4A, while
provincial roads and traffic are an exclusive schedule 5A
provincial responsibility.
The disparities in maintenance each has and processes require
collaboration, synergy and co-ordination which is when many
things go drastically wrong. Unfortunately, the Department of
Transport has been reluctant to accept the long-standing view
of the Democratic Alliance that their present indicators are
not connected to civic experiences of transport and the
Department's service delivery provision. For example, 95% of
passenger rail services have been eliminated. Nonetheless,
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa reports that
targets have been met and the department and Minister commend
this.
Another aspect that the DA has regularly warned against is the
use of consultants rather than developing internal capacity
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and competence. This 2022/23 budget is no exception with a 73%
increase in budget provision for consultants, the largest of
which is for the public transport programme. How can effective
and efficient co-ordination ever be achieved through
consultants? How can improved co-ordination and budget
functions ever be improved based on individualised projects
through consultants? How would we ever effectively serve
communities with choice and option of diverse modes in
varieties of integrated options of mobility when three quarter
of a budget is set aside for consultants?
After spending millions of rand on consultants, we today, have
more company-owned vehicles parked at Prasa-offices than
moving trains. A recent parliamentary question revealed that
more than R2 billion is owed by Transnet to Prasa – a bizarre
occurrence in its owns train assets yet allows this
nonsensical cross-invoicing between the two entities. The
sooner these two organisations get together, the better.
Any desire to shift more freight goods towards the rail
network to relieve rail congestion would be viable only after
the full merger of Transnet and Prasa. This should not a fresh
endeavour but rather an opportunity that has already pass a
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few by and this why the trucking business stepped up and
absorbed the growth at the period in the Durban harbour grew
by more than 40%. The 15 000 truck fleets of owners who have
five or more trucks now compete for more. In total, there are
well over 300 000 trucks with a capacity of 3,5 tons’ or more.
Nonetheless, despite the spectacular development, Transnet
could barely secure 12% share in container movement.
The Department and Minister Mbalula are not guided by
realistic facts and evidence. Instead of clear direction and
focus, there will be more self-delusion with toy stories war
rooms nothing will improve. It has little value in terms of
sustaining jobs and economic prosperity when there are 11 435
bills of 90 days outstanding to creditors amongst the 12
transport entities. This potential revenue has cost the
combined transport service provider Civic Centre over
R60 million, shame on you.
Debility is rife and evident in the decline of rail passenger
numbers by 95% from 2010 and currently. Put differently, this
department’s administration has left us only 5% of passenger
rail activity we are intact. We are at 10 years ago. The
majority of the Metro Rail’s 2 220km were operational until
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August 2019 when Minister Mbalula opted not to renew security
contracts to protect our national rail assets.
Because she now needs to pay much more to commute to work, a
working mother said she has 40% to spend in her household. You
should be ashamed. In this budget, R12,6 billion have been set
aside for rail capital projects. It would have been prudent to
use this money to expand on rail and enhance our signalling
equipment. For example, just five kilometres of rail track
might have connected the King Shaka International Airport, to
the vast passenger rail network.
I recently share substantial disparities o what SA National
Roads Agency, Sanral receives for road maintenance and what
the nine provinces combined receive. Sanral which manages
about 10% of road kilometres compared to the combined nine
provinces, yet again benefits from this budget once again
receiving general users. Apart from these and more budget
disappointments, the returned Adjudication of Road Traffic
Offences, AARTO and National Land Transport Amendment Bills,
provide absolute confirmation that the ANC-led government
cannot be trusted in making law or in implementing it, let
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alone adding budget to civic advantage. The sooner the DA gets
in control of these functions, the better.
IsiXhosa:
Ndiyabulela ngexesha enindiphe lona.
English:
I thank you.
Ms N J NOLUTSHUNGU: Thank you, Chairperson. Chairperson, the
EFF rejects Budget Vote 40 on Transport. Minister Mbalula has
overseen the most dramatic destruction of public transport
infrastructure ever witnessed in times of peace anywhere in
the world. In a country where 70% of its population depends on
public transport for their economic, social and general
activities, a reliable, accessible and affordable and overall
efficient public transport system should be a priority.
During the 2006-07 financial year, the Department of Transport
introduced the integrated public transport network plan for
the Metropolitan municipalities and certain selected cities.
This grand plan was meant to introduce the Bus Rapid Transit,
BRT, into our public transport system, with state-of-the-art
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technology, formalisation, and transformation as well as
empowerment of the taxi industry through Public Transport
Infrastructure Grant and the Public Transport Operating Grant.
This project has fallen flat in most cities, because of lack
of backbone by the department and their inability to stand up
to bullying from the taxi industry. The project has been a
dismal failure in Metros such Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay,
Buffalo City, and the likes. Instead, the grant funding meant
for these cities has been looted by the thieves, and no
tangible deliverables can be demonstrated. The other Metros
who were showing signs of progress have now regressed.
The department does not have the necessary skill set and
capacity internally to perform its function of monitoring the
performance of these struggling municipalities and intervene
timeously. The same goes on the failure of provinces and
municipalities to maintain roads and infrastructure. The worst
treasonous negligence by this department, however, has to be
the way they let the passenger rail system go. The rail
passenger traffic in South Africa decreased over the years
with only 237,3 million rail passenger journeys reported in
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2018, as compared to the 616,9 million rail passenger journeys
in 2009.
This decline in rail passenger traffic is directly
attributable to corruption, maladministration, mismanagement,
appointing of incompetent individuals disguised as cadre
deployment and lack of funding in the country’s passenger rail
transportation infrastructure. In big cities such as Cape Town
and Johannesburg, which have for generations depended on a
functioning passenger rail network, the neglect by this
department has led to a complete destruction of rail
infrastructure.
Today, the Minister waxes lyrical about the repair to rail
infrastructure that will cost billions of Rands. But why did
you allow such destruction in the first place? Was it so that
you can milk the state further through these contracts for
refurbishing the rail network? What measures have you ensured
that the destruction of rail infrastructure is stopped? We can
tell you now, for free, that the investments recently made
will be vandalised soon because you have not dealt with the
real causes of this vandalism.
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Perhaps it is time we re-introduce rail police that the
country once had in the 1970’s, but this too, will be
corrupted by your party, Minister. In the midst of all this
destruction at Passenger Rail Agency of SA, PRASA, you have
allowed a person with a well established reputation for
looting, to destabilise PRASA even further by hiring and then
firing a CEO without a valid basis whatsoever, still no valid
reason why you appointed and then fired a CEO.
The same is true for the infrastructure for transporting
goods. The movement of goods is mainly by road, but due to the
failure of rail, as a consequence, the roads are in a mess and
full of potholes because they were not build for trucks that
carry such heavy loads. Minister, we need a functioning rail
network. We need to revive and expand our public transport
network across the country. We need to bring order back into
the taxi industry and rid it of criminal elements who kill
without ever being brought to justice. We need to rid the
country of potholes.
We need to ensure that a much beneficial cooperation between
national and local government in as far as the running of
local transport networks are concerned. We must build internal
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capacity in order to prevent so much wastage on consultants.
The department used over R250 million just for consultants in
the previous financial year. This is an unnecessary waste of
public funds. We must sort out the mess that is the Road
Accident Fund, RAF, and minimise wastage of money on lawyers
to ensure that all the money goes to where it is supposed to
go, to victims of road accidents. We reject this budget. I
thank you.
Mr K P SITHOLE: Hon Chairperson, this department has been
tasked with ensuring the safety of every South African who
make use of transport. This department’s management and the
performance of its entities has an impact on the growth of our
economy. Unfortunately, this department is failing to deliver
on its mandate.
We can all attest to the poor current state of our roads - the
poor maintenance and the lack of overall development, for
example, the Moloto Road, also known as the death road, which
stretches over 160km spans through three provinces – Gauteng,
Mpumalanga, the Limpopo and has more than 1 000 vehicles
traveling on it during peak hours. A feasibility study in 2006
and then again in 2014, costs the taxpayers approximately R17
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million, merely to inform government that the road with
highest accident rate in Mpumalanga requires drastic
government action in order to save lives. Yet, to date, the
road is still incomplete and there is no progress, if any. It
has been very slow, to say the least.
However, it has been shown that upgrading this road could
prevent the loss of thousands of lives, each year as well as
improve economic development for the people, reduce excess
community distancing and provide greater access to work
opportunities.
It is quite clear that by not working within these timeframes,
to upgrade this large stretch of road, this department and
government have ... [Inaudible.] ... They are aware of this
road, but have ... [Inaudible.] ... with the allocation budget
to this road, while making the people believe that changes are
coming soon.
While the Moloto Road is one of the biggest concerns in
relation to the Transport Department’s obligation, there are
other areas that are suffering due to poor maintenance. The
potholes in Mpumalanga, the North West, the Free State,
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Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal create a severe obstacle to the
development of our economy, caused huge damage, and, in fact,
injuries to road users. There are also enormous sinkholes,
which also pose danger to the wellbeing of our road users,
especially on the R71 from the Free State to uKhahlamba. This
tells us that this department has not only failed the people
of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo through the Moloto Road
project, but also other important stretches of roads in this
country.
The IFP calls on this department to provide quarterly reports
on the Moloto Road and ... [Inaudible.] ... projects. Each
quarter, the Minister must appear before the department to
account for the expenditure and progress. Civil society groups
must also be invited to raise concern during each quarterly
regarding the progress in this regard. We support the
committee’s call for this department to provide a
comprehensive national, provincial and municipal account on
all road maintenance and expenditure. He must also submit a
three-month forecast on all road maintenance to be completed.
In closing, this department must seek to rectify the issues
with the payment to the taxi industry, as per the Covid-19
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Relief Fund. The lack of attention paid to resolving these
issues will have severe consequences on commuters using public
transport. In the form of increasing costs, government has
pledged to ease the impact on South Africans through making
funds available to each ... [Inaudible.] ... rise in
transportation costs and so too it needs to pay attention the
taxi industry.
Minister, accounting officers, MECs for different provinces
should actually be arrested for failing their constitutional
mandates. The IFP rejects the budget. Thank you.
Afrikaans:
Mnr P MEY: Agb Voorsitter, een van ’n land se belangrikste
komponente van ’n gesonde en groeiende ekonomie is ’n goeie
vervoerstelsel. Die grootte van die begroting van die
vervoerstelsel is ’n weerspieëling van hoe belangrik vervoer
vir die regering van die dag is.
Die afgelope jare het die openbare vervoerstelsel byna tot
stilstand gekom, terwyl dit ook nie voldoende was nie. Ons kan
vandag in Suid-Afrika sê dat die enigste openbare vervoer die
van taxi’s is, wat ongeveer 16 miljoen mense per dag vervoer.
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Sonder ’n volhoubare, betroubare en veilige vervoer stelsel
kan geen land suksesvol wees nie.
Op die mediumtermyn beplan die Departement van Vervoer om
onderhoud op nasionale sowel as provinsiale paaie volhoubaar
te maak en die spoorvervoer te verbeter.
Dit is verblydend om te sien dat waar Sanral betrokke is,
paaie in ’n goeie toestand is en gereeld opgegradeer en
onderhou word, dit terwyl die provinsiale paaie in ’n baie
swak toestand is en dit groot gevaar vir die motoriste inhou.
In sekere gevalle word die begroting wat aan die provinsies
toegeken word, nie eens gebruik vir die vir onderhoud van
paaie nie, maar vir ander doeleindes aangewend. Die beste ding
wat ooit kan gebeur is die dag as Sanral alle paaie in Suid-
Afrika oorneem, want die provinsies is eenvoudig net nie
daartoe in staat om die paaie voldoende te beheer nie.
In Suid-Afrika het ons die ou regering een van die beste
treinstelsels gehad en ek het die afgelope tyd gewonder waarom
hy so suksesvol was. Daar is ’n paar dinge wat vir my
belangrik is en ek het al verskeie kere in die
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portefeuljekomitee gesê dat ons die Suid-Afrikaanse
Spoorwegpolisie moet terugbring. Wat het in die ou bedeling
gebeur? Die Spoorwegpolisie het dissipline en hulle het die
veiligheid van passasiers gewaarborg. Die reiskoste was baie
laag vir die kliënte en hulle het van die kleinste tot die
grootse dorpe en stede bedien. Treine was tydgebonde en altyd
betroubaar. Ek wil sê soos ek nou die dag van Cosatu gelees
het dat die weermag ingespan word om die diefstal van
elektriese kabels te verhoed. Ek dink dis ’n baie goeie idee.
Die ANC-regering probeer om alles self te doen. Dis nie
moontlik nie. Hulle beskik nie oor die finansies nie, en
daarom is dit verblydend om te verneem dat die regering ook
nou van die privaatsektor gebruik gaan maak. Ek wil vandag sê
dat die ekonomie in Suid-Afrika kan groei, maar sonder hierdie
ordentlike vervoerstelsel is dit eenvoudig net nie moontlik
nie.
As ons byvoorbeeld na landbou kyk, landbou is een van die
grootste werkskeppers in Suid-Afrika, maar boere moet self hul
eie paaie instand hou. Hulle spandeer honderde duisende rande
aan herstel van voertuie, terwyl daardie geld vir verdere
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uitbreidings aangewend kon word, om sodoende op ’n ander
manier nuwe werksgeleenthede te skep.
Die oorsigbesoek aan Noord-Wes, Mpumalanga en KwaZulu-Natal
was om een word te gebruik – skokkend. Ek wil vir u sê dat
daar op grondvlak absoluut niks gebeur nie. In ’n plek soos
Rustenburg is daar 21 verkeersvoertuie. Slegs drie is in
gebruik. Die ander 18 – ons het self gaan besoek – staan
geparkeer. Waarom? Daar is nie onderdele beskikbaar nie, want
daar word nooit vir onderdele betaal nie.
Ons moet onthou dat, hoe verder dinge versleg, hoe minder gaan
ons die paaie kan verbeter. Ek dink dis nou tyd dat die
regering ingryp en ook kyk na die mense op grondvlak. Ek voel
baie keer dat hulle die regering saboteer.
In Suid-Afrka praat ons baie oor mense wat in ongelukke sterf,
maar ek dink, soos die vorige spreker van Inkatha gesê het,
moet ons na die Moloto-pad in Mpumalanga kyk.
Die afgelope 13jaar was daar meer as 10 000 sterftes op
daardie pad. Oppad na Mpumalanga het ons op ’n opgelukstoneel
afgekom waar twee persone toe net gesterf het. Die gemeenskap
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het ons ook ingelig dat vorige Lede van die Parlement ’n
belofte gemaak het dat hulle die treinstelsel vanaf daardie
gebied tot Pretoria sou instel. Dit het nie gebeur nie en dan
is die pad wat die Sanral doen wel in ’n proses, maar ek dink
dit kan ook vinniger geskied.
Die seining van die komitee oor vervoer is dat senior poste
vinniger gevul moet word; begroting vergroot moet word om
totale verval te stuit; oorsig besoeke meer moet plaasvind;
slaggagte moet vinniger herstel word en die vervoer van pad na
spoor absoluut as dringend beskou word. Dankie.
Rev K R J MESHOE: House Chairperson, I firstly want to convey,
on behalf of the ACDP, our sincere condolences to families who
have lost their loved ones in accidents that were caused by
the poor state of our roads, particularly potholes. We also
wish a speedy recovery to all those who are still recovering
from those accidents.
A major feature of what was reported as an attempted
insurrection that threatened to topple our democracy last July
was the closure of the N3. This was an act of economic
sabotage and a threat to the food security of our nation. It
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caused a national crisis, which damaged our economy and
severely dented our international image.
The ACDP welcomes the sentencing to 20 years behind bars of a
taxi industry worker for his involvement in the burning down
of a train carriage last month. According to the prosecutor,
and I quote:
The impact these incidents have on the poor in our communities
is where the real tragedy lay. Trains are the cheapest form of
transport. When they are put out of service, commuters are
forced to use taxis, which are more expensive and unaffordable
for many workers.
Hon Minister, many workers need efficient and affordable
transport systems that are essential to the lives of all South
Africans. When public roads are full of potholes, residents
are hesitant, or even afraid to drive at night, particularly
when it rains. When trains stop running, workers, including
street vendors, who depend on a cheaper mode of transport,
which is trains, go to markets and spend most of what they
earn for a living. When there is no safe or efficient public
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transport, emergencies become life-threatening and family time
after work becomes a luxury.
The ACDP has some serious concerns about the department’s
spending patterns. From the budget of R69,1 billion, the
financing of consultants is set to increase by 73,3% this
year. This is outrageous. An amount of R3,5 million was spent
on consultants last year, and this year a budget of R13,1
million has been allocated. We believe this is a waste of
money that should be used to help people and ensuring that our
roads are right for safe traveling. Thank you.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Hon House Chairperson,
Minister of Transport, Hon Fikile Mbalula, members of the
executive committee, MECs, Members of Parliament, guests,
ladies and gentlemen ... [Interjections.] ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Hon Deputy Minister,
unfortunately, we can only see the wall. And we would
appreciate that we only see yourself rather than the whole
audience that is there. Can they allow the camera to point at
you? – If you can zoom in to the Deputy Minister please. Oh, I
don’t know what to say now.
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Mr J J McGLUWA: They must fix the roads first.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Hon Mcgluwa, you are
out of order. Please don’t do that. Hon Deputy Minister, I
don’t know what is happening. I think you are taking more
time. That’s much better. Oh! my God, they changed it again.
Proceed hon Deputy Minister. If they can only be quiet.
Although It’s very disturbing. I can’t stop you from
proceeding now.
Siswati:
SEKELA NGCONGCOSHE WETEKUTFUTSA: Ngihlale phansi, Sihlalo?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): It has everybody on the
picture and that’s not what we would want to see. We only want
to see Deputy Minister speaking, Please. It was alright but
they changed it again. Proceed, hon Deputy Minister.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: ... Thank you very much,
Chairperson. There is no keener revelation of a nation’s soul
than the way it embraces change, endures devastating
adversity, and amidst all, choose a purposed path of unity and
Ubuntu.
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As South Africans, we are a diverse, inclusive, and resilient
nation. We are a country adorned with a fierce resolute
tenacity. A people who are not afraid to rise, clear the path,
rebuild, adapt and serve ... [Interjections.] ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): I am sorry to have to
interrupt you again, hon Deputy Minister. I see hon Papo’s
hand. Hon Papo, your hand is up, should we proceed?
Mr A H M PAPO: You have already addressed the issue. Because I
was worried about the head on the screen next to the Minister.
It’s destructing us.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): The camera is not
projecting the Deputy Minister as it is supposed to and this
frustrates us. But we have to proceed. We can only see the
wall now, but you can proceed, Minister. Thank you.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: ... A people who are not
afraid to rise, clear the path, rebuild, adapt and serve. And
as the transport sector, we are the heartbeat of economic
growth and social development. We play a critical role in the
Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plan.
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In this regard, for this financial year, we have prioritized
skills development and training in order to organically build
capabilities and capacity of the transport sector. We have
also continued to recruit young talent, especially women and
persons with disabilities either as interns or as new entrants
or even senior executives.
The total budget for training and skills development for the
year 2022-23 is R26,8 million. Of which R15, 4 million, which
is 57% is for our university bursary programme, from where we
are funding 330 students per year who are studying various
transport qualifications at 13 Tertiary Institution of South
Africa. Some have graduated, others are graduating even this
year.
I must appreciate the immense commitment by our state-owned
entities, SOEs, who have recognized the importance of skills
development and training as critical to the greater agenda of
transforming and capacitating the sector. We also appeal to
the private sector to partner and or collaborate with the
department to ensure that our young people find employment and
improve the skills capacity of the sector.
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We applaud Coca-Cola Beverage South Africa, CCBSA, for
collaborating with the department to drive skills development
in transport freight and logistics, by ensuring placement of
our students to gain practical work experience. This
partnership will see ten students commencing their internship
at CCBSA in June this year. More work will be done to create
opportunities for participation by young people in the CCBSA
learnership programme that accommodates 700 learners.
It is important to highlight that through-out the transport
sector we have ensured the implementation of a gender-
responsive budgeting approach. Such a commitment will ensure
that we fight the scourge of gender-based violence and
femicide, GBVF.
Hon members, as the transport sector, we were hard-hit by
COVID-19 and we lost quite a number of our capable employees.
I must commend our national and provincial departments as well
as SOEs, employee health and wellness units, for heightening
and strengthening preventative measures and providing
tremendous psycho-social support to infected and affected
employees and their families. We extend our heartfelt
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condolences to all the families of the fallen employees across
the transport sector.
Chairperson, we committed ourselves to appoint the required
skills, experience and expertise, especially at senior and
executive levels, whilst ensuring that we continue to apply a
gender, disability and youth sensitive strategy on human
capital development. To this end, we are proud to inform the
House that we now have five capable women chief executive
officers, CEOs, in our twelve SOEs. These women run the Air
Traffic and Navigation Services SOC Limited, ATNS, Airports
Company South Africa, ACSA, South African Civil Aviation
Authority, SACAA, Ports Regulator of South Africa, PRSA, and
the Railway Safety Regulator, RSR. We must commend our
Ministry and boards for responding so positively to the call
to transform our sector. As a matter of fact, we also have one
women deputy director-general, DDG, in the transport
department for the first time.
We have also appointed a Chief Executive Officer of the Cross-
Border Road Transport Agency, C-BRTA. We are in the process of
boards appointments where board tenure is about to expire or
have vacancies. We have also appointed both the Air Services
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Licensing Council and the International Air Services Council.
These appointments will clear the backlog of all the pending
and amendment applications that have been lodged by the
airlines.
Hon Members, in relation to the implementation of Public
Transport universal design and access, which seeks to improve
the mobility needs of persons with disabilities, all public
and private transport operators will be required to conduct
audits of existing infrastructure, fleet composition and
operations against legislated minimum norms and standards.
House Chairperson, this financial year, we have proposed a
number of policy and legislative amendments in an effort to
seek efficiencies and cost effectiveness in the running of our
SOEs. With a modest budget of R42 million for the 2022-23
financial year, the PRSA will continue to implement the Multi-
Year Tariff Methodology and Tariff Strategy to ensure that the
pricing of both the ports infrastructure, and the services and
facilities provided in the eight commercial ports owned by the
National Ports Authority, NPA, are cost-reflective and where
applicable, adjusted for inflation.
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The 2022-23 is not only the last financial year for which the
current tariff methodology is applicable, it is also the first
year that the regulator will be setting tariffs for a
corporatized NPA in line with section 3(2) of the National
Ports Act, 12 of 2005.
With corporatization affecting the treatment of the various
elements within the tariff methodology, the PRSA will be
reviewing the tariff methodology and its applicability for
2023-24. This is to ensure the financial and operational
sustainability of the NPA as a corporate entity under the
Transnet SOC Limited, with a focus on the valuation of the
assets, taxation, and elements impacting on the credit metrics
of the NPA.
The PRSA approved an average inflation linked 4,5% tariff
adjustment with discounts and incentives. These discounts
include a 60% rebate on vessels taking on bunkers, 30% on
license fees for license holders and lastly, 30% discount for
South African flagged vessels on marine charges.
On rail safety, it is critical that we inform the House that
in this financial year the RSR will commence with the
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development and implementation of a digitised and an
integrated Information Management System, IMS, to meet the
requirements set out in the RSR Act. The IMS will deliver data
integrity to support operational intelligence in assuming the
effectiveness of the RSR’s compliance activities.
The RSR concluded two research reports on level crossings and
personal safety on trains. These research papers will create a
body of knowledge on actions and strategies that are necessary
to improve safety levels in the reached areas as well as level
crossings. In this financial year, the RSR has been allocated
a total budget of R278 million.
Hon House Chair, the Minister of Transport, hon Fikile
Mbalula, announced on 01 July 2021, that the Administrative
Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences, AARTO, roll out will be
implemented in four phases. Most of the activities in the
implementation project schedule are close to completion.
However, some of the outstanding activities have been put on
hold pending the decision on the appeal at the Constitutional
Court.
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For the current financial year, Road Traffic Infringement
Agency, RTIA, will embark on AARTO legislative training and
awareness in all 44 districts with the view to increase
readiness, ensure access particularly in rural areas for the
anticipated national rollout. They will further, establish 37
AARTO Service Outlets and procure AARTO Mobile Offices in all
9 provinces creating 98 job opportunities. The RTIA has been
allocated a total budget of R486 million for the current
financial year.
Hon members, the civil aviation remains one of the sectors
worst hit by the covid pandemic since the hardest lockdown
restrictions of just over two-years ago meant to curb the
spread of the virus and to save lives. The International Air
Transport Association, IATA, indicated that the impact of
COVID-19 in 2020 resulted in 64% of the global fleet grounded.
Airports revenue around the world dropped by 54,6%. However,
IATA has forecasted a potential overall improvement on
traveller numbers to reach 4 billion in 2024, which exceeds
pre-COVID-19 levels.
IATA further estimates that passenger numbers to, from, or
within Africa will recover more gradually than in other
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regions, reaching 76% of 2019 levels in 2022, surpassing pre-
crisis levels in 2025. Our aviation SOEs are readying
themselves for this recovery. To this end, the National Civil
Aviation Policy Review process continues as it seeks to change
the policy trajectory towards the promotion of national
interests and domestic growth of the aviation sector and a
realignment of the sector’s growth to the National Development
Plan, NDP, 2030.
On civil aviation, South Africa will be audited on aviation
security compliance by the International Civil Aviation
Organization, ICAO. We were last audited in 2011 and achieved
81,3%. We hope to improve our performance in the upcoming ICAO
aviation security audit in August this year. The SACAA will be
representing South Africa.
The SACAA launched a smart card licence for aviation
professionals which replaces the booklet that have been used
to identify personnel licenses. The launch took place in 2021
making South Africa one of only a few countries in the world
to use a smart card where licence holders and operators can
access the data of aviation personnel in real time from
anywhere in the world and at any time.
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Whilst as a country we are doing very well in commercial
aviation, we are concerned about the increase in the number of
accidents in the general aviation. Stringent measures to curb
these accidents have been communicated to all aviation
stakeholders. However, the country has reduced the number of
fatal accidents by 25%. This is an achievement towards meeting
the Minister’s target of reducing aircraft accidents and
fatalities by 50% in the current strategy cycle.
In 2022-23, SACAA will implement a R140 million automation
project with a view to migrate into a complete paperless
system to address the stakeholder needs of efficiency, agility
and client-centricity. For the 2022-23 financial year, SACAA
has been allocated a total budget of R771 million.
As part of the recovery and reconstruction efforts in the
current financial year, ACSA’s focal area will be on
strengthening its cargo and logistics services with the main
aim to diversify its revenue generation through supporting
development of aerotropolis. While ACSA is cognisant of the
impact that COVID-19 had on the aviation and air travel
industry, it will not extend any concessions on aeronautical
fees as this is guided by the airport economic regulation and
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form the cornerstone of the airport revenue. It is worth
noting that an extensive business support in the form of
reprieves on the non-aeronautical revenue side was extended at
the peak of the pandemic.
Since 2019, when the ATNS, commenced the implementation of its
safety strategy, notable improvement has been recorded in its
Standard of Excellence in Safety Management Systems, SoE in
SMS, rating, due to the improvement in its safety ratio and
the serious incident rate. The SMS maturity improved from
level A to level C.
In the regional context, the ATNS continues to manage the
satellite voice and data communication networks covering 27
African countries. The introduction of these networks and
communications systems have gone a long way in improving
aviation safety over African skies.
Based on our known strengths as an important contributor in
the civil aviation development and governance, South Africa
will bid for re-election in the IACO Council at the 41st ICAO
Elective Assembly scheduled to take place in Montreal, Canada
from 27 September to 7 October 2022.
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As I conclude, I wish to thank the hon Minister Mbalula for
providing strategic leadership and support to all of us. I
also want to thank the MECs, of Transport in provinces, the
hon members of the Portfolio Committee on Transport in holding
us accountable as per their constitutional mandate. I also
extend my appreciation to the Acting Director-General, DG, and
the staff of the Department of Transport, as well as to the
chairs and chief executive officers, CEOs, of our SOEs, for
their commitment and hard work.
To all our stakeholders in the transport sector, we say, now
is the time to actualize tangible strategic partnerships for
the development of our country South Africa in general and our
transport sector in particular. To our people we say, all
hands are on deck to fast-track service delivery and actualize
the Khawuleza ethos. Let’s be patriotic, love and protect our
country. God Bless South Africa and its people.
Hon Hunsinger, you told us about hon John Steenhuisen, who
travelled to Ukraine, I wish he was able to drive to
Stellenbosch University to meet a black student whose
belongings were urinated upon by a white student. That would
be very cheap for him to undertake. I thank you.
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The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms R M M Lesoma): Hon members, for
noting the ANC’s hon Zwane left six minutes, the following
speakers of the ANC will share them among themselves. Having
said that, we shall proceed to the hon Herron from GOOD. Hon
Herron, over to you.
Mr B N HERRON: House Chairperson, those with good memories will
recall the build-up up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and our
resolution to use the event as a springboard to develop an effective
public transport system. We promulgated the National Land
Transport Act which represented an important policy shift. And
according to the Minister, the Act was intended to consolidate
land transport functions and locate them in the appropriate
spheres of government, being the local sphere.
As the football extravaganza drew near, we saw new bus and
rail networks were developed in some cities and, for the first
time, it appeared that the taxi industry was being afforded a
rightful seat at the table of decision-makers and
implementers. But 13 years later, the new legislation has
failed to achieve its goals because it has never been fully
embraced by the revolving doors of management at the
Department of Transport. And most of the seven Ministers who
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have occupied that office since 2009 have not hung around long
enough to fully comprehend or implement it.
Instead of using the Act to fix the system, what we have
witnessed over the past dozen years has been the total
collapse of scheduled mass rapid public transport across the
country. What has happened to our transport plans? The ones
about a hierarchy of modes, with commuter rail identified to
provide the backbone of local public transport, supported by
bus rapid transit, BRT, with efficient, seamless and
affordable connections integrated with other scheduled bus
services and the minibus taxi industry. What we have instead
is a collapsed commuter rail system and a declining BRT
system. In the absence of regular and reliable rail, the idea
of mass rapid connectors and the development of meaningful BRT
networks cannot work.
We have an inverted hierarchy of modal choice, with minibus
taxis providing the backbone of public transport and the
state-backed modalities are on the brink of collapse. The
Department of Transport should be ashamed to report the
dramatic decline of rail and bus users between 2013 and 2020
in its annual performance plan. If it was not for taxis, the
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bitter truth is, there would be virtually no public transport
system left, and ideas of growing the economy would have to be
put on hold. Devolving public transport networks and the
functions of local government is not just the law in South
Africa, it is also a key recommendation of the Integrated
Urban Development Framework.
We must rescue the commuter rail system by securing the rail
reserves through built environment interventions; fast-track
the rail modernisation programme; and devolve the rail
networks to cities along with the rail operating subsidies. We
must permit cities to contract with Metrorail and other
private operators; devolve scheduled bus contracting
functions, along with their subsidies, to cities with BRTs so
that the two systems can be integrated. And we must fast-track
the roll-out of the BRT where it is still viable, and we must
develop a new approach to the minibus taxi operating licensing
regime that acknowledges taxis’ functional role in our
economy. I thank you.
IsiZulu:
Nk F E KHUMALO: Sihlalo, ngibingelele, Sihlalo, uNgqongqoshe
woMnyango Wezokuthutha, ngibingele uSekela Ngqongoshe
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namalungu ekomidi elibhekene nomsebenzi womnyango eliholwa
ngusihlalo umhlonishwa uZwane, malungu ahloniphekile.
English:
The ANC supports Budget Vote 40 of the Department of
Transport. The Budget Vote of the Department of Transport is
taking place at a critical time for the country as the sector
was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. And it was
further affected by the devastating floods that affected parts
of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The floods had a major
impact on the rail, road and port infrastructure. The impact
on the road and rail infrastructure also impacts the major
inland market that is dependent on the transport
infrastructure of KwaZulu-Natal for the movement of goods,
freight and people.
Whilst there has been much work done for the restoration of
the transport infrastructure, more work needs to be done to
ensure that the transport infrastructure can operate normally
and be further developed. This means that this Budget Vote
requires to be optimised in terms of the funds and make every
rand spent count in terms of the outcomes on the ground. The
flood damage to the road and rail system does require urgent
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attention as the infrastructure requires to be restored in
KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Eastern Cape.
The rail network between KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng must be
restored to ensure that the major inland market has access to
the coast for the receiving of goods and exports.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms R M M Lesoma): Hon Khumalo, one
minute, hon Khumalo. I am sorry to do that. Can you just
switch your video on? It is one of the Rules unless you would
have requested it before you started your speech.
Nevertheless, you may proceed while you are sorting out
yourself in terms of the video. You may proceed, hon member.
Ms F E KHUMALO: I have tried, Chair, but it does not allow me.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms R M M Lesoma): Okay, proceed.
Ms F E KHUMALO: It is important to understand that the
transport sector is critical to the functioning of the
economy, and all the seven programmes of the department are
critical in that regard, which is the focus of this Budget
Vote. Infrastructure development in the transport sector forms
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a critical part of ensuring the success of the Economic
Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. The implementation of the
Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan is dependent, for
its success, on the development of an efficient and integrated
transport system nationally. This will enable the transport
sector to generate funding for the development of transport
infrastructure projects externally to this Budget Vote.
Transport infrastructure development is capital intensive.
Therefore, the department, as part of the rail and road
programme, should focus on which projects require external
funding for their development. Road transport is the major
mode of transport for the movement of people, goods and
freight. The road transport programme has a budget, for this
financial year, and it is R34 billion.
IsiZulu:
Sihlalo, kufanele sikusho ukuthi noma sehlile isabelomali uma
usiqhathanise nesonyaka odlule. Sifanele sikukhuthaze
sikugcizelele ukuthi umnyango uma usisebenzisa lesi sabelomali
usenze isiqiniseko sokuthi wenze ngawowonke amandla ukuthi
wenze okuqondene nomsebenzi wesabelomali ukuze senze umsebenzi
esihlelelwe sona.
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English:
The SA National Road Agency has budgeted some R22 billion for
both toll roads and non-toll roads. It is positive to note
that this Budget Vote has allocated funding for the Moloto
Road Corridor. This road corridor must be refurbished as a
matter of urgency. It has historically recorded a large number
of road accidents resulting in many fatalities. The community
in that area has been calling for the government to do
something about the condition of the road in the Moloto road
corridor for a while. And their call has been heard as this
Budget Vote demonstrates the ANC government’s commitment to
the call of this community. It is also positive to note while
the proposed N2 Road has been budgeted for, and is a critical
road between the two provinces the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-
Natal, these roads are non-toll roads, which will assist
motorists and enable movement between the two provinces. The
Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project has been granted a budget
of R4,4 billion in the 2021-22 budget and has been granted a
further R664,4 million this financial year to stabilise the
finances of this important project which relieves the traffic
between Johannesburg and Pretoria. Road maintenance is
critical in many parts of the country and this is not only
about the national roads but also the provincial and local
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roads. This Budget Vote has allocated R11,9 billion to road
maintenance.
IsiZulu:
Ithi-ke leyonto, Sihlalo, siyakubonga ukuthi kungagcini
ngokuthi sibuke imigwaqo kazwelonke siye nasezifundazweni
nakumigwaqo yendawo ngoba sikwazi ukuthi imigwaqo yethu
ezindaweni esihlala kuzo ayimihle kangakanani. Siyabonga
nokuthi izobhekwa ukuze abantu bakithi balubone ushintsho
ngoba balulindele abantu bakithi ushintsho ekutheni imigwaqo
ibe sesimweni esikahle.
English:
It is far cheaper from a budget perspective to maintain roads
than to refurbish the roads. As part of the recommendations of
the report on this Budget Vote on transport, the committee
seeks progress reports on the provincial roads maintenance
grant, rural road asset management system gran, municipal
infrastructure grant, expanded public works programme,
integrated grant for municipalities and the public transport
network grant. The Road Traffic Management Corporation has
been budgeted R224 million. Road safety is a critical element
of the legislation and regulation features developed by the
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ANC government, and this occurs through road traffic
management and safety programmes.
Historically, there have been far too many fatalities on the
roads in the country. And while this may have been reduced due
to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, these fatalities come at
a great cost to the people and the economy of the country. The
government has correctly adopted the policy of the movement of
goods and perishable freight from road to rail. This policy is
important to ensure that there are fewer heavy-duty trucks on
the road which in turn will act to preserve our road network
and reduce the maintenance costs.
Due to the volume of goods and freight being transported by
road, the N3 between Gauteng and Durban has to be refurbished
every three years instead of every seven years as was
originally planned. There must be a functioning weighbridge
which enforces weight regulations for heavy-duty vehicles
given the impact of these vehicles on the condition of the
roads. Rail is the most efficient form of transport and the
country has an integrated rail network for the movement of
freight and passengers. Rail is also the cheapest form of
transport which increases transport cost savings for the
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working class and the poor commuters. Over a number of years,
there have been a number of lines which have not been
functional due to the criminal destruction of the network.
Work has commenced on the Central Line in Cape town and the
Mabopane Line still needs to be completed. This must be
supported as it creates a better life for all.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, has
allocated a transfer from this budget.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms R M M Lesoma): Hon member, start
wrapping up.
Ms F E KHUMALO: Thank you, Chair. There is a new board that
has recently been appointed and the committee appreciates
that. In conclusion, Chair, I think it cannot be businesses as
usual as there are many challenges which rail and road
transport in this country that needs to be resolved.
Therefore, the department must ensure that in this budget they
have, to utilise it as it has been set out. Thank you,
Chairperson. The ANC supports the budget.
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Mr M G E HENDRICKS: Hon House Chair, the Minister of Transport
must become an unstoppable force so that our railway network
is a mega railway network that is a symbol of the country’s
economic power, and he can do it. Minister De Lille says she
has the appetite to work on full employment for the poor. So,
Minister, Al Jama-ah says you can do it, you have the
appetite.
South Africa’s 14 km railway line between central Johannesburg
and the business hub, Nasrec, was described in 2010 as one of
the world’s best railway networks. The construction cost us
R70 million and ferried 20 000 passengers during peak hours.
Sadly, this has become dysfunctional.
We heard the hon member talk about the central line in Cape
Town that is still work in progress. That is unacceptable.
Minister, you promised we will have it up and running before
last Christmas so that the sailors coming to Simonstown, if
there is a war, then they can reach the base quicker. Now they
have to use all kinds of transport so we will really lose the
war before it started.
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I went to visit the railway line between Port Elizabeth and
Johannesburg, and most of the Khoi and the San live at most of
these stations. All these stations along the route are
dysfunctional. Minister, the country is waiting for you to
become that unstoppable force. Thank You very much, Hon House
Chair.
Mr I S SEITLHOLO: Hon House Chairperson, thank you very much,
today, we debate the national Department of Transport’s
Budget; a Budget that hon Chris Hunsinger pointed out as being
one where service delivery does not feature, and the ANC
speakers, including the Minister, attested to that.
While this Budget is the same old, same old Budget, the
service delivery outcomes thereof are not aligned with the
experiences that millions of South Africans have on our roads.
Hon Chris Hunsinger’ speech highlighted the two components
that facilitate Transport Budget functions to the people, one
of which includes the implementation of transport functions
which happens through provinces.
Unfortunately, for the North West province, the complete
collapse of provincial and municipal road infrastructure is
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the reason why this Budget is nothing but a ghost budget. This
province has been mismanaged by the failed ANC for the past 28
years. The infrastructure collapse in the form of roads in the
North West proves that there is no co-ordination between
national and provincial spheres of government, and that that
which this national Department of Transport seeks to achieve,
will remain a pipe dream for as long as the ANC is in
government.
In a reply to a written question on the allocation of the
Provincial Roads Maintenance grant, PRMG, to North West
province from 2011 to the year 2020, the department noted that
the North West had received well over R7 billion with almost
R2 billion of the total amount sent back to National Treasury
as unspent.
The culture of unspent funds by the North West province is
well documented. A News24 article published on 3 April 2020,
noted that the North West, which has one of the worst service
delivery records in the country, was on the verge of giving
back R17 billion of a total combined budget of R57,4 billion
to National Treasury because its departments had failed to
spend money. Also note that this is a province whose
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departments have been under section 100 intervention for the
past 3 years, including its Public Works and Roads Department.
Chairperson, this failure to spend money on service delivery,
specifically the building, upgrading and maintenance of both
provincial and municipal roads has had dire consequences and
results for the people of the North West. Residents in several
rural communities in the North West have horror stories to
tell.
Dunga Tshilo, a resident in Modimong Village in Greater Taung,
explains how back in 2006, the late Premier Edna Molewa
introduced the building of road D210. To date, that road
linking Cokonyane and Modimong villages is still a ghost,
making the almost 12 km travel between the two villages
difficult for emergency medical services and public transport,
especially when there are heavy rains.
In the villages of Tlapeng, Mocweding, Mokasa and Matlapaneng,
road D201 which was promised to be upgraded from gravel to tar
back in 2011 was regravelled to the tune of R18 million, only
to leave residents unable to access public transport, schools
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and tuck shops due to the condition of the road after
torrential rains a month after the said regravelling.
The residents of Matsheng, Kokomeng, Molelema and connecting
villages were excited to have the D206 as well as the D208
roads upgraded from gravel to tar. The 10 km road would have
created easy access to more than five villages in the Ba-Ga-
Maidi area. Unfortunately, after two years of having the site
abandoned by the contractor after 56% work was completed and
with well over R40 million spent, the residents of Molelema
have now resorted to fixing their own road as it has now been
completely destroyed by rains while the department and the
contractor remain locked in a battle royal in court.
Chairperson, Pieter Ernest, a broiler farmer for Supreme
Chicken in Leeudoringstad, is in danger of losing his contract
due to the terrible state of the road. Every 40 days, his farm
produces more than 500 000 chickens. About 55 trucks are used
to transport the chickens and deliver 1 500 tons of feed.
These trucks use road D1248 - a provincial road - to access
the farm. Thirty-nine households will be affected should this
termination take place.
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On Workers Day, members of the Montshioa Methodist Church of
Southern Africa in Mahikeng, were forced to fill potholes
found in the streets near the church. Community members,
business forums, and taxi associations across the North West
province have had to dig deep into their pockets to fix access
roads. All this due to the failure of the ANC to govern.
On 7 May, public figure Lebo Molax posted a video on his
Facebook page about the current state of the N12 road in the
City of Matlosana. He jokingly said, as I paraphrase, that
people no longer need to go to Kimberly in order to see the
big hole; the holes on the N12 were enough to become a tourist
attraction. This is deeply saddening.
Chairperson, while I may have singled out the North West here
today, the reality is that provinces such as the Northern
Cape, Free State and others, know exactly what I am talking
about in as far as the conditions of their provincial and
municipal road network is concerned. House Chairperson, I
thank you.
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms R M M Lesoma): Hon members,
you are encouraged and we will continue to encourage you to
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use a black background and a parliamentary background. It
would be highly appreciated because you are deemed to be in
the House. It would give life in terms of the decorum of the
House, as it were.
Mr L E MCDONALD: Hon House Chair, this is a critical Budget
Vote for the transport sector. There is much work to be done
on the infrastructure of rail, roads and ports. The department
has been allocated funds in these programmes dealing with rail
and roads.
It is common cause that South Africa has a developed transport
system in terms of civil aviation, road, rail and ports. This
transport system extends over a relatively vast geography. The
geography as ... [Inaudible.] ... from Cape Town to the south
of Polokwane in the north is equivalent to the distance from
London to Istanbul. It is 102% times bigger than the Ukraine,
and in Europe one will pass through many countries.
The transport system in the country is functional as millions
of people utilise it daily. However, there are a number of
challenges which confront the transport sector and these need
to be dealt with. The rational and the approach of the ANC to
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dealing with these challenges is different to that of the
opposition. If one wants to listen to the opposition and
believe their narrative, it would sound like there is a
complete breakdown of the transport system, which is false as
millions of commuters utilise the transport system on a daily
basis. In this regard, the opposition speaks as though they
prefer to live in another country, in another planet or in a
South Africa of yesterday.
The approach of the ANC is that the people want better
services faster and greater level of efficiency of government.
They wish that the ANC-led government, which is a better life
for all, they want transformation in the transport sector. For
the ANC this means that the transport system in the country
must be preserved, protected and developed in all modes of
transport as this is the key driver of economic development
and growth.
The ANC opposes the destruction of transport infrastructure of
the country, especially rail. It seeks growth of the sector,
and that is at the heart of the matter. This begs the question
of what are the challenges in the transport sector which the
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department needs to attend to in the current financial year
and the next financial year.
The transport sector is a key catalyst to the efficiently
functioning of the economy and must directly contribute to its
growth and development. Therefore, the state of the current
transport system is not conducive to economic growth and
development. It is not efficient, integrated and the
infrastructure requires much investment due to poor
maintenance. The state of the municipal and provincial roads
is a source of frustration for the people of South Africa. Far
too many people are losing their lives on the road and some
because of the conditions of the roads in provinces and
municipalities. The rail network has been seriously damaged in
many parts of the country, mostly due to the inability to
secure the infrastructure.
It is heartening and very positive that the South African
Police Service, Saps, have made a number of arrests of people
and syndicates who have made a criminal career out of
destroying the rail infrastructure of the country through
theft of cable and tracks. The Passenger Rail Agency of South
Africa, Prasa, has been allocated some R19 billion as a
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transfer from the national department and the committee is
expecting results in the form of improved rail services. The
Department of Transport and Prasa must ensure that the rail
network is protected, restored and fully operational for the
transport of goods, freight and people. Municipal and
provincial roads require to be maintained as this is much
cheaper than neglecting maintenance and having to reservice
roads regularly.
The national Department of Transport must work hand in hand
with provincial and local government to ensure that road
maintenance occurs. The silence which exists between different
levels of government in the transport sector does not
facilitate delivery and therefore require closer co-
ordination. Allocated budgets in different spheres of
government must be optimised to achieve delivery.
Yes, hon Hunsinger, it is service delivery. This is what the
ANC-led government is planning on doing. Furthermore, the
different spheres of government and the transport sector must
be held accountable for the funds which are made available for
maintenance and the development of public transport. Most
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people in South Africa do not care about who is responsible
for what road, just that the potholes be fixed.
Apartheid spatial planning placed a majority of black working-
class and the poor away from places of work, and therefore,
these communities are reliant on public transport. In the best
of circumstances, most of these people require to use more
than one mode of transport such as rail and road. This
historical injustice of apartheid negatively impacts on these
communities as they spend much time travelling to earn a
living, and also impacts on their family life. This programme
is funded by government through the national department and
provinces. Therefore, it is imperative that the Department of
Transport ensures that the development of the transport system
occurs to serve such communities which are dependent on public
transport for their livelihoods. This means that the rail and
road transport require to be fixed and be fully operational to
serve our people’s transport needs are at possible cheapest
cost.
The rapid bus transport system requires efficiency functioning
where it is operational and extended to the areas where there
are similar transport needs. Public transport that is
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efficiently organised and integrated can play an important
role to reducing carbon emissions through reducing car fleet
on the roads. For implementation of the single ticket
transport system, this travel for all approaches is critical.
This is also the effect of preserving road infrastructure in
the country.
The entity presented to the committee as part of the Budget
Vote process and is critical that the entity, as a focus on
the Budget Vote, is funded through the special levy as per the
Road Accident Fund Act. The Road Accident Fund plays an
important role as a social benefit scheme for the victims of
road accidents. In the past year, the Road Accident Fund has
paid out R34,2 billion, of which R20,87 billion was paid out
towards loss of earnings as a result of vehicle accidents.
Moreover, some R2,2 billion was paid out on the loss of
support for dependants of vehicle accidents which have lost
breadwinners. In a country struggling to reduce the triple
challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment, the
payment to dependants is critical as it draws the line for
those families between facing abject poverty and ensuring
their survival.
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Chair, the ANC-led government may not always get things right,
and we will be the first to admit that in the attempts of
ramification, but it is certainly a caring government for
people of the country. The Road Accident Fund has faced many
challenges in the past, both internally in terms of limited
funding in relations to its claims. National Treasury, through
the intervention of the Minister of Transport and the
department, has since stepped in and increased the funding to
the fund. In the past financial year, through the
restructuring of the fund, it was able to achieve a
R3,1 billion in terms of surplus. This is a result of the
review and the process of restructuring which has commenced.
There are a number of challenges which still need to be
addressed in terms of the legislation as well as the
functioning of the fund, including the role of legal
fraternity associated with the work of the fund that requires
to be regulated. There is no substitute for efficient
administration and this certainly has to improve as duplicate
payments are unacceptable. The funding model must be improved
and all forms of corruption must be eliminated from the
workings of the Road Accident Fund. It is unacceptable that
the fund pays higher medical rates than the medical aids and
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this must be corrected. Improving the financial state of the
fund through reduction of liabilities does require
restructuring. A balance between the revenue and claims needs
to be reached in favour of revenue for the fund to operate as
a going concern.
The Road Accident Fund has made slow and steady progress to
improve the government’s operations, including its financial
operations, through the appointment of the new board and
ensure consequence management. Actuarial costs and
investigation costs has been reduced through internal capacity
building as these are now treated as poor functions. Change is
required for improving the function of the fund in terms of
reducing its liability, and must occur within this financial
year through generating further surplus as part of
restructuring. Critical to the operations, the Road Accident
Fund is ensuring safety on the roads to reduce the number of
road accidents and fatalities. Efficient road maintenance will
also have some effect of reducing accidents and fatalities on
the road. Both these positive measures will ensure
preservation of life and as the effect of reducing the number
of claims thereby reducing the upward pressure of funding the
Road Accident Fund. One third of fatalities on our roads in
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directly linked to the failure to wearing seatbelts. We need
to improve basic law enforcement and compliance to the rules
of the road.
Our civil aviation industry, which is a budgeted programme of
the department, functions on world-class standards. Since the
outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, civil aviation has not
fully recovered. Both Airports Company of South Africa, ACSA,
and the Air Traffic and Navigation Services, ATNS, as state
entities have traditionally been financially stable state
entities. The department needs to pay close attention to the
financial health of these entities to ensure that they remain
sound in government and financially stable as this has always
been the case since there is no transfers from the budget to
these entities. Now is the time to implement expansion
programmes that will future proof our efforts and make air
travel safer and less costly — new runways and upgraded
airports, to name a few.
The department needs to get used to the idea that it cannot be
business as usual, as the people in their daily lives are
frustrated by the pace of change in the transport sector. It
is important for the department to note that the committee
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will be ensuring that there will be enhanced oversight not
just of departmental outputs of its programmes but also of
deliverable outcomes which improves the lives of the ordinary
South Africans who utilise the transport sector.
The committee wants service delivery to the citizens of the
country, nothing else. We must be able to do more with a
decreased budget in real terms and obtain greater value for
money spent. In simple terms, we are expecting delivery as the
ANC-led government represents the interests of the people,
especially those of the working class and the poor. our future
economic development growth depends on a fully functional
transport system. The ANC supports Budget Vote 40 of the
Department of Transport. I thank you.
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Madam Chair and hon members, thank
you very much for your contributions. First and foremost, I
want to draw your attention not like a broken record, but to
that there is somewhere we are going in terms of the rail
situation in the country. We have now adopted and introduced
the national rail policy which is going to intervene
decisively in terms of our rail network, rail reserves, branch
lines and how we are going to revive them. We are also opening
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up to the public-private participations, PPPs, which is not
privatisation, where we are going to collaborate through
concessions in the implementation of the regulations. Very
soon we will be meeting with the stakeholders to address that.
That will address issues of road freight and logistics -
moving goods from roads to rail. That is the key and
fundamental issue when it comes to business and growth in that
particular sector. That is what we seek to do with the
adoption of the road policy.
We are turning the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa,
Prasa, around. I saw that talking about the war room has just
been deemed kicked out of the window by hon Hansinger. War
rooms are implemented in situations of crisis to speed up
implementation. What do we seek to speed up at Prasa? It is a
capital project, but a quick turnaround to get the trains
back. I am repeating here in this platform that by October or
November this year all the ten corridors will be back to
operation. I was at the war room yesterday and it is up and
functioning.
We are building capacity at Prasa at the present moment, and
this is what we are doing. This is our concurrent function.
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Working with other spheres of government we do the work of
constructing roads. You can go if you want to politic. Go to
the Western Cape and tell me if you won’t see potholes.
Wherever there are rails you will find potholes. We have said
to our municipalities and all of us that let us have a
strategy of closing potholes because there are heavy rains due
to climate change and that is not going to change. We even had
a road indaba where Tito Mboweni said why do you need an
indaba, just fix the roads? I agree with him. We must fix the
potholes at the municipal level.
Go around Johannesburg if you want to play politics. We are
not in charge there but there are potholes left and right.
Potholes bring about accidents, potholes are a disaster and we
must close them. It doesn’t matter whether they are in the ANC
territory or wherever they are.
The IFP leader who spoke here must go to the Moloto Road. Two
years back the first thing I did was to transfer that road to
Gauteng. We are finished the Moloto Road in the side of
Mpumalanga and Limpopo. In Gauteng we are deep into
construction. We have now allocated more than R2,8 billion to
that project. It is operational. The Moloto people want rail.
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I have said to them that with the new rail policy that is
coming we will be working with them to get it back on track.
At a given point in time it was mismanaged, but now working
with the private sector we will be back alongside
reconstructing the branch lines to get the rails back. We need
feasibility study to determine whether or not that is
feasible. We are hard at work at the Department of Transport
not withstanding challenges.
I am happy we have the leadership of the SA National Taxi
Council, Santaco, here. We have a pact that we will be signing
very soon with the national taxis regulator. Among others, we
are going to see for the first time, the adoption of the
subsidy policy for the taxi industry in South Africa. We are
deep in discussions about formalisation as well as
professionalisation of the taxi industry and addressing the
empowerment. We are moving ahead and we are also intervening
in terms of some of the challenges that we are facing.
Thank you very much, hon members for your inputs. “Ndziya
bulela” [I thank you] to everybody who came to this Budget
Vote and support the Department of Transport. Thanks to the
media for carrying us live. Thank you very much.
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Debate Concluded
The mini-plenary session rose at 15:59.
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