Mahlalela on the occasion of the provincial Prayer Day, Matsulu Stadium
10 December 2006
Programme Director
Honourable MECs, Executive Mayors and Councillors
Leaders from all Religious faith groups
Members of the Moral Regeneration Movement
Officials from government departments and municipalities
Leaders of the bus and taxi industry
Members of the South African Police Service
Our Honourable guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Mgcinisihlalo, angitsatse lelitfuba nginibingelele nonkhe egameni leNkosi
yetfu Jesu Krestu, Amen.
It is indeed a great honour for me to stand before and more so to be given
this opportunity to speak on this very important occasion, an occasion where we
ask the presence of our Almighty God as we pray for safety on our roads.
We hold this service at a time when our brothers and sister, mothers and
fathers, relatives and motorists are massively travelling to different
destinations of joy, love, peace and happiness. We hold this service during the
festive season, a season that was once a reason for joy.
Yet this season has since become a season of sorrow, pain and suffering as
families and relative suffer the great trauma caused by death on our roads.
Programme Director, I am sure that we are gathered here today as a sign that we
are greatly concerned about the safety on our roads and that we want to put all
our efforts together and fight the continued deaths in our province.
Yesterday at Lochiel we launched the provincial Arrive Alive campaign, which
was preceded by both the national launch of the Arrive Alive campaign as well
as the provincial road safety strategy. During these events, we all spoke in
one voice and declared war against those who are hell-bent on violating the
laws governing travelling on our roads.
Our road safety strategy has, amongst other key elements, included the
involvement of progressive groupings such as churches, civic organisations,
public transport operators, other government departments, as well as the
private sector. In doing so, we are trying to show everyone that road safety is
the responsibility of every citizen of this province.
Each one of us must have a role to play because road fatalities affect
everyone as some become orphans as breadwinners get killed and as a result
government remains with the huge responsibility of servicing the debt caused by
accidents. By this, I call on all of us to pray for the culture of peace, love,
care and kindness amongst road users.
The attitude of South African drivers the moment they get into their
vehicles leaves much to be desired and in order to turn this around, we need to
share this responsibility because it's an undisputed fact that our department
alone cannot succeed. These attitudes have turned our roads into graves and our
vehicles into coffins.
Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen, such events are regarded as
partnerships in the making and we want to encourage more partnerships amongst
all role-players and integrate our work in order to have a more meaningful
impact. The work of the Moral Regeneration Movement in the renewal of our
behaviour must be implemented by our actions of tolerance, peace and
compassion.
In this respect, we need to reach out to our public passenger drivers who
must begin to see their passengers not as loads, but as human beings, fathers
and mothers and as breadwinners in whose hands many lives depend. Once we
manage to change their attitudes, positive results will be realised and our
roads will cease to become graveyards.
It can only be through this attitude and behaviour change that we shall be
in a position to reduce the number of widowers, orphans, people with
disabilities and any other emotional suffering as a result of people killed on
our roads.
Similarly, our churches have a significant and critical role to play. We
need to take this message of changing attitudes to our respective churches and
preach about them with the same passion as we do about the need to repent and
seek absolution.
Civil society must also equally raise this matter in all the forms. Let us
all seize and use every available opportunity that presents itself to spread
the gospel of road safety, especially to our drivers and pedestrians.
Programme Director, allow me to reflect on one of the key aspects that
contribute to lawlessness and lack of respect for other road users, which is
the absence of visibility of our traffic officers. Through partnership with
companies such as the Public Utility Transport Corporation (PUTCO), we have
procured about 37 patrol vehicles, which should solely be used for patrol and
therefore show visibility.
The other worrying factor is the degree to which motorists are taking
alcohol which impairs their sight and balance, thereby resulting in unnecessary
accidents. Let me send a strong message of warning that our traffic officers
are out there in numbers and have since been taught not to negotiate but to
arrest. We will have roadblocks throughout the province in order to ensure that
our people arrive safe at their destination.
Before I conclude, let me reiterate our messages and appeal to road users
out there to respect the rules of the road: "Don't speed; speed kills." Let us
respect one another, let us be patient and tolerant: "It can save many lives,"
Don't sit behind the steering wheel if you know that you don't have a licence
to drive; let us report bad driving; let us teach our children to respect motor
vehicles and let us train our drivers - it's a good thing to do.
In conclusion, Programme Director, we urge all role-players - taxi
operators, drivers, the bus and trucking industry, pedestrians, churches and
organs of civil society to join hands with the department and say no to deaths
on our roads. One death is one death too many; do not become another
statistic.
We owe our future to the generations to come to ensure we do not fail in
this historical mission. The same as we defeated apartheid as one people, let
us declare today that nothing can stand in our way in ensuring safety on our
roads.
Have a good life, May God protect you
Thank you.
Arrive Alive!
Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Mpumalanga Provincial
Government
10 December 2006
