competition gala dinner held in Phokeng Civic Centre, Rustenburg
5 August 2006
It is indeed an honour for me to address this important and unique occasion:
âThe Provincial Lady Driver of the Year.â
It is an important event for me and my department because this is now the
second year this event is running. It is unique too that no other province
other than North West hosts such competition for its women drivers. It shows
that we are doing the right thing and we lead!
Last year, if you remember well, this event was inaugurated in the Eastern
Region. We were in Brits. Today is your turn, the Northern Region, and
specifically the Royal Bafokeng Administration, respective councils and the
community of Phokeng.
Madume Bakwena! Madume Kwena ya Madiba!
By the way, these are the greetings we need to teach the hundreds of
thousand of soccer fanatics from outside this country who will be swarming your
villages and streets in 2010 to watch whoever will be training or playing down
there at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace.
Who in this world would have thought that one day, a FIFA Soccer World Cup
match/fixture will be played in a village and stadium owned by the people of
Phokeng?
As you are all aware, this year has been declared the âYear of Womenâ. The
year 2006 marks the 50th Anniversary of a historic march by women of this
country to Union Buildings, in Pretoria, to protest against the enforcements of
carrying of passes. They converged onto the Union Buildings in thousands, from
all over South Africa, representing all racial groups to demonstrate en-mass
their resentment of the pass laws and more importantly against the unjust
system of apartheid.
In commemorating this historic event, our democratic Government has declared
this year the âThe Year of Womenâ of South Africa, who have made a significant
contribution in the liberation struggle and in other spheres of life, from
community upliftment and being major entrepreneurs.
To all ladies and a few gentlemen gathered here tonight, what I have just
mentioned in my opening remarks may sound to some of you as an old tale that
you have heard over and over again in the past.
I wonder how many of you here tonight were born in 1956 and those who were
born before 9 August of the same year, how old were they then.
But the reality of life is, it is important to pass on from one generation
to the other your history and be proud to say where you come from as a person.
You have to know your history to be able to talk about the future. Surely we
did not just fall from somewhere.
You may not have realised before my introduction that though âThe Women
Driver of the Yearâ may look like fun games on the surface, it ties-up with the
historic event I spoke about.
Though this is the first official gathering I had the opportunity to address
since my return from an official overseas trip on Tuesday. Iâm aware that 32
women in the employ of our police and security services, South African Police
Services (SAPA), South African National Defence Force, Traffic and Home Affairs
got the ball rolling this week under as âCentral Women in Actionâ.
In joint operations they set up two separate roadblocks on the
Litcheburg-Mafikeng road and again on the Vryburg-Mafikeng road. In less than
two hours, the Central Women in Action issued twenty three (23) summonses in
respect of vehicle offences, eight (8) warrants of arrests were served on taxi
operators, one person was arrested for being in possession of more than 2 kg of
dagga and one illegal immigrant was nabbed.
That was their own initiative to celebrate August which is Womenâs Month. I
need to point out to this gathering that Traffic Officers as well as South
African Police in North West fall under the Department of Transport, Roads and
Community Safety which is hosting this event tonight, so donât say you were not
warned!
The Women/Lady Driver Competition is one of our Road Safety Education
Programme in our 2006 strategic plan. We are not suggesting that women are bad
drivers. There are other driver competitions that also include tractor driving
and truck driving which is by the way national and international events. For
the competition that you took part in today and various others that were held
in 21 municipalities leading to the regions, you must have become aware of
issues which very often we as motorist take for granted.
How many of us here ever bother to do a pre-inspection of the vehicle before
we undertake a journey? Iâm very optimistic that what you went through today
will not necessarily make you the best driver but through theory and practice
you were exposed the critical safety aspects as a road user, whether you are a
driver or a pedestrian.
The carnage on our roads is not necessarily caused by conditions of some of
our roads but rather by vehicle factors like faulty brakes, faulty lights, tyre
bursts and overloading. Added to that are human factors like jay walking
(pedestrians), high speed, drinking and driving, turning in front of traffic
and unsafe overtaking.
If all of the participants who entered this competition, including more that
are still to enrol and take part, can heed the lessons from this exercise, we
can in small way, help reduce the road carnage.
It is at this point when I remember the 13 teachers of Diphetogo Primary
School in Montshia near Mafikeng. All victims were women, who died in horror
accident outside Lichtenburg town on Saturday, 26 June at 04h00 when their
hired mini bus crashed head-on with an oncoming truck.
How do we explain this? I know that road where the accident occurred and
there was and is nothing wrong with the road surface. Be that as it may, we
have 13 families without a wife, mother and young learners without mentors
theyâve known from day one when they started school. You therefore have a role
to play in helping us as the Department to spread the gospel of road safety in
your municipalities, in your regions and in your homes
In conclusion, it saddens me that 27 August is fast approaching and upon us
without a clue where the body of murdered police Constable Francis Rasuge is.
It will now be two years since the Rasuge of Hammanskraal, who was stationed at
the Community Service Centre of Temba Police Station, has been murdered.
The murderer, William Nkuna is serving a life sentence for this crime but
the body of Rasuge is yet to be found. As women across the country celebrate
the historic Year of Women and August Womenâs Month, let us remember that there
is still an unfinished task of finding the body of Rasuge. Her family also
needs to bury her in dignity and wants to close this sad chapter.
Wa thinta a bafazi wa thinta imbokoto!
Ke a leboga.
Issued by: Department of Transport, Road and Community Safety, North West
Provincial Government
5 August 2006
Source: North West Provincial Government (http://www.nwpg.gov.za)
