T Mhlahlo: Unveiling of remembrance stone for Paterson accident
victims

7 June 2007

Let me once more, take this opportunity to convey government message of
condolence to the families that lost their loved ones because of this tragic
accident last year. Government remains committed to stand next to you, provide
the necessary support and ensure that we work together to address our
challenges. As we continue to initiate various programmes that seek to
facilitate the movement of people and goods, we are further charged with a
responsibility to increase road safety awareness and underscore the preventable
nature of road traffic crashes.

Road accidents continue to haunt our young democracy and frustrate the
growth of our economy. Therefore we have a collective responsibility to educate
one another about the impact that accidents have on our country and global
socio-economic conditions. We have realised the importance of investing on road
safety initiatives through deliberate and determined efforts of many sectors of
society, both governmental and non-governmental. This year, the focus is on
young road users, including young drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and
motorcyclists who make up a high proportion of those suffering death, injury
and disability on the roads.

Government is trying its best to ensure that all road users respect the law,
but we have further observed the importance of constantly reminding our people
about their roles and responsibilities when they use our roads. We have
increased the number of provincial traffic officers to 383, who are working
together with other law enforcement agencies in maintaining law and order in
our road network. An additional 50 bursary holders are currently undergoing
training at the Port Elizabeth Traffic College and are expected to graduate on
28 June 2007. We have advertised a Traffic Safety Management Learnership
targeting young matriculants with full exemption in English, who are aspiring
to become Road Safety Officers. We are targeting 13 young people from the
Cacadu District from areas such as Nelson Mandela Metro (three), Makana (one),
Ndlambe (one), Blou Kraans (one), Ikwezi (one), Camdeboo (two), Blue Crane
(one), Sundays River (one), Koukamma (one), Kouga (one)

Each learner will get a stipend of R1 200. We are strengthening our capacity
to ensure the success of our Arrive Alive Campaign, which is a continuous and
tactical programme that runs throughout the year. This year, the Arrive Alive
Plan provides an integrated enforcement plan that responds to the demands of
prevailing circumstances in an effective way. The focal areas are:

* driver fitness with emphasis on their documentation
* fatigue and alcohol abuse
* moving violations including illegal use of cell phones while driving
* passenger and freight transport
* vehicle fitness and registration plate enforcement
* pedestrian safety.

There are media campaigns with more emphasis on the use of seat belts,
especially rear belts. The department is in a process of purchasing a booze bus
to prosecute drunken drivers. We would like to encourage motorists, especially
public transport operators to assist our Arrive Alive initiative through:

* constantly checking the conditions of their vehicles before taking long
trips
* avoiding to travel during awkward times
* ensuring that long distance trips have at least two drivers to avoid
fatigue.

Commuters should inform our law enforcement agencies of any problems they
encounter on our roads through calling the Provincial Information Centre toll
free number 0800 644 644. Furthermore, government remains committed to improve
the conditions of our public transport system. Visible and decisive advances
have been made in the taxi industry through the Taxi Recapitalisation Project.
As we speak, 1 848 applications have been received 1 400 vehicles are at the
Main Scrapping Site in Zwelitsha of which 1 233 have been scrapped and 102 are
waiting for scrapping. Already, 1 335 taxi operators have received their R50
000 scrapping allowance and 65 operators are waiting for their payments within
the next 48 hours.

We are further committed to revitalise our railway lines in an effort to
provide our people with alternative public transport modes as we prepare for
the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Our road infrastructure improvement is one of our
priorities in order to facilitate the movement of people and goods. The Cacadu
District and the Sundays River Municipality, in particular, are some of the
targeted areas, because of the tourism potential in this region. As we speak,
construction is underway on the 4,8km stretch between the N2 and Addo at a cost
of R87 million. Planning is underway for the continuation of this upgrade to
Addo Town and the construction process is expected to start in April 2008 at a
cost of R290 million. We have dispatched the Department of Roads and
Transport's internal road maintenance unit to re-gravel all roads within Addo
area at a cost of R11 million.

As part of our contribution to the government's Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP), we have introduced a new programme known as Sakha Isizwe
Community-Based Transportation Programme. Through this programme, we have been
able to build and maintain our roads, especially in rural areas, while
simultaneously creating work and fighting poverty through labour-intensive
methods presently, we have 1 995 Household Contractors in this programme
throughout the province on which R12,9 million had been spent. These households
maintain certain stretches of road and obtain salaries from the department.
Their work entails road maintenance, upgrading, construction, focus on roadside
animal management, fencing, pedestrian safety, footpaths, non-motorised
transport, gabion basket manufacturing, rangers etc.

This year, we want to increase this number to 5000 and we gave each district
office R10 million to expand the programme. The programme is expected to create
an estimated 30 000 additional work opportunities over the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework period, thus 5 000 per district. It would further result
in the construction of approximately 300 km of new low volume roads and the
maintenance of approximately 5 500km of existing roads, thus significantly
improving the quality of the overall provincial road network and transportation
system. The targeted roads will assist in improving accessibility to economic
activities, tourism opportunities, schools, clinics and other government
services.

This year, the programme has been expanded to the Cacadu District and 500
poor households will be identified to benefit, of which 50 households will be
from the Sundays River Valley Municipality. I have instructed the department
officials to further consider some of the households that lost their loved ones
during that tragic incident that left the community of Paterson in great shock,
for participation in this programme. The first identified road for this
programme is the uncompleted 1.2 km section of Nomathamsanqa Main Street gravel
road, which is the tourists' route to reach Addo Elephant National Park and is
used intensively by buses, taxis, private vehicles and pedestrians.

We will further complete the upgrading of the Paterson Taxi Rank by
constructing the outstanding shelters to the taxi loading area and fencing
around the Remembrance Stone. The cost for the entire above-mentioned
infrastructure is estimated at R2,5 million. This infrastructure development
alone will create 100 employment opportunities through household contractors
and learnerships.

In conclusion, I am confident that when we work together, we can make the
necessary difference and bring a significant reduction in the number of
fatalities and serious injuries suffered by our people in our province. Let us
all work together to change the face of this area and our province for the
benefit of future generations.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape
Provincial Government
7 June 2007