Empowerment Federation (SAODEF) Women in Transport, Director-General (DG),
Mpumi Mpofu
20 July 2007
Programme Director
Ekurhuleni Mayor Duma Nkosi
President of SAODEF, Lennox Magwaza
Members of SAODEF National Executive Council (NEC)
MAN Truck and Bus representatives
Absa representatives
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) representatives
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me begin by saying that government is committed to a South Africa that
brings together the talents of every citizen and the maximisation of the
potential of every individual, gender equality, the prohibition of
discrimination and the celebration of diversity being the core principles of
our goal.
I recognise and applaud the important work that your initiative has played
in seeking to make this shared vision a reality. Your work in relation to the
position of women in transport is most valuable and I congratulate you for
that.
I'm sure you already know that South Africa's overarching challenges for
transport relate to the regulation of the overall transport sector in relation
to modes of transport, transport infrastructure, maritime, civil aviation and
freight logistics, etcetera but also in lowering the cost of doing business in
our country.
You will certainly know how vital these challenges are for women and how
seriously they're taken by women. There can be no doubt that the contribution
made by women is vital to our continuing economic growth and prosperity.
I have a sense of relief and some pride at what has been achieved by South
Africa in heightening the role of women in these areas, but we must recognise
where more work is required. We must face the reality that not enough has been
done, gender equality has not really been achieved. We are still on our way
there.
One of the key areas is the central importance of institutional mechanisms
to consolidating and expanding gender equality. Public and private sectors as
well as civil society together need to make the case for gender mainstreaming
and we must be able to explain what gender mainstreaming is. How do we make the
case for it in transport policy or even in transport funding for that matter. I
would like to believe that this approach will contribute immensely in achieving
a transport sector that is dynamic but also importantly, socially
inclusive.
For a very long time, transport planners and operators have usually been
men. As such women's specific transport needs and aspirations have often not
been identified or addressed, even though some operators in recent years have
taken steps to employ women in key positions and consult women as users.
However, much more has to be done. And to that end, I would like to see far
more women enter the transport industry.
And we need voices to articulate on every possible occasion the distinct
differences in men's and women's attitude towards and experience of
transport.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the same breath let me also say that the good news
is that steps to address this problem are taking shape. Particularly as the
Department of Transport, through our National Household Travel Survey we have
been able to understand the demographic issues and transport needs of our
diverse society and we are starting to apply the solutions required.
Let me talk a bit about the strides we have made so far, but also to
highlight some of the green fields for women in the transport sector.
Our government has put in place socio-economic legislation that is amongst
the most progressive in the less developed and developed countries,
particularly with reference to the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Strategy
and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) codes of good practice on
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE).
Our much heralded draft Transport Sector BBBEE Charter is another example of
initiatives by government through the Department of Transport to address the
legacy of inequality in our society in order to make a significant contribution
towards economic growth, job creation, skills development, poverty alleviation
and BBBEE. All these elements are embedded in the indicators of ownership and
control, management, employment equity, skills development, preferential
procurement, enterprise development and socio-economic development targets
adopted from the DTI Broad Based BEE Strategy and the BEE Act.
Thus women empowerment cannot be viewed in isolation only from the
perspective of ownership. It has to be seen as only one prong in a holistic
strategy to achieve BEE and thus implemented alongside employment equity,
skills development and other human resource development initiatives as well as
corporate social investment and affirmative procurement. This Charter is set to
change the South African landscape substantially. The advent of the BEE Charter
in the transport sector will in some areas have a positive impact in promoting
women entrepreneurs.
The pillars of the Transport Sector BBBEE Charter are job creation, skills
development and economic opportunities. The guiding principle for job creation
shall be related to growth in the overall South African economy, industry and
at enterprise development level. To this end a certain percentage in economic
growth should at least create a significant number of jobs in our industry.
Across all sub-sectors of transport there are set targets to ensure gender
equity. The Transport Sector BBBEE Charter process aims to have a 50%
sub-target for women in all indicators of empowerment. But, one of the
challenges is also to ensure the empowerment of women in order to participate
effectively in sub-sectors such as Aviation that requires highly skilled
individuals. As a medium to long term goal, we are therefore committed in the
training and development of women through Transport Education and Training
Authority (TETA), particularly for the Aviation, Rail and Maritime sub-sectors.
This effort will assist women to participate in these highly skilled
sub-sectors.
Upon the completion of the BEE Charter for the transport sector, all
stakeholders will use sub-sector scorecards to assess performance of BEE. The
Charter will enhance practical empowerment of the disadvantaged individuals
particularly black people, black women, black youth and people living with
disabilities in order to ensure their active participation in our economic and
social development.
Programme Director, let me also take this opportunity and share some of our
planned development initiatives with an intention to generate interest from
women to join us in locating the transport sector at the centre of our economic
growth. Let me start by indicating that it is well known that the South African
government is driving investment with a R400 billion infrastructure development
commitment over the next five years, a commitment which the transport sector is
a major contributor to.
Starting with road infrastructure, government is investing in excess of R70
billion over the next three years for the development, upgrading and
maintenance of road infrastructure across the spheres of government.
This includes the non-toll strategic national road network, strategic
secondary roads, regional roads, access roads and public transport routes.
Furthermore the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) intends to
raise an additional R8 billion from private investors for the development of
concession toll roads under public private partnerships (PPPs). Opportunities
lie in many areas including engineering, construction and consultancy.
The labour intensive, Community Based Roads Maintenance Programme such as
Zibambele has also presented rural women especially 'women headed households'
with major opportunities for their involvement in road maintenance. In the
2004/05 financial year alone, Zibambele awarded 23 451 contracts to households
maintaining in excess of 15 000 kilometres of roads. The current number of
contracts in KwaZulu-Natal is about 32 500, maintaining about 16 250 km of the
KwaZulu-Natal road network. The Siyatentela Programme with similar principles
is also showing results in Mpumalanga with 55 contracts already awarded to
rural women in that province.
Turning to aviation, the Airports Company South Africa is currently rolling
out R19,2 billion investment in airport infrastructure expansion, which is
intended to expand airport capacity ahead of 2010. All these plans bring
opportunities for all of us in terms of airport design, construction and in
investment.
Rail infrastructure is also receiving major investment over the medium term.
Passenger rail infrastructure and rolling stock will be improved with R16
billion over the next three years in order to modernise infrastructure and
signalling systems and recapitalise rolling stock.
The involvement of companies owned by previously disadvantaged individuals
in infrastructure upgrades, technology enhancement and rolling stock
refurbishment and acquisition will go a long way in re-establishing rail as a
preferred mass mover and backbone of mobility in South Africa. Attention will
also be targeted at promoting inter-modalism, thus inter-connectivity with
other modes is of great importance.
In terms of freight transport, the government utility Transnet will be
investing in rail and port infrastructure through its subsidiaries Spoornet and
the National Ports Authority (NPA). Spoornet will spend R31,5 billion on rail
improvements over the next five years, while the NPA will invest R18,6 billion
on port infrastructure capacity enhancement. Again black companies will benefit
in the areas of infrastructure, refurbishment, signalling system improvement,
rolling stock recapitalisation and port infrastructure expansion.
We are also investing R9,2 billion in transport infrastructure improvement
for 2010. Each of the host cities has been allocated money to improve public
transport infrastructure and systems including the design and development of
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are also
being rolled out in high traffic areas to enable traffic flow management,
incident management and information sharing with motorists. Investment will
also be made in Travel Demand Management (TDM) measures to manage road space
usage and prioritise public transport. Black companies can play a significant
role in introducing innovative technologies to government for successful
implementation of these important interventions.
Let me encourage you to look at these plans and identify opportunities
particularly for black businesses. The transport industry is a strategic and
significant contributor to our country's well-being and we would like to ensure
that this industry is aligned with the country's values and its socio-economic
imperatives. The challenge is to carry through the transformation of the
industry to alter the skewed ownership and control patterns that we have
inherited. The issue of economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged
individuals and organisations is therefore high on the agenda of
government.
Government will encourage strongly the entry of black empowerment firms
particularly those owned and managed by black women into the transport
industry. The industry should therefore actively seek to create opportunities
for empowering previously disadvantaged individuals, especially women as well
as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through enterprise development and
procurement. Employees should also be empowered by ensuring equitable
recruitment practices, adequate and appropriate training, a systematic transfer
of skills and by encouraging employee equity in the ownership and management of
transport companies. The track record so far, from government's perspective, is
not as strong as it should be, indeed, we would urge SAWITRA to be the
mouthpiece of women to address all of these transformation issues much more
energetically than has happened so far.
It cannot be business as usual.
With those words, I challenge all of you, to make sure that the transport
sector becomes truly representative. Let us diversify the representation of
this industry by targeting and recruiting the emerging black transport
entrepreneurs and particularly black women.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Transport
20 July 2007
Source: SAPA
