J Thibedi: Animal Drawn Cart Pilot Project during Public Transport
Month

19 October 2006

It is once again a great pleasure and honour for me to be in this part of
our province, Bophirima Region today, on an official visit and in the company
too of a very high powered delegation from my department.

And it is also a very special privilege for me to interact once again with
our rural based community and their traditional leaders, who have come from all
corners of Taung to be part of this special occasion.

Madume�Batlhaping!
Ke a le dumedisa ka pula! Batlhaping baga Kgosi Tshepo Mmankuroane
Mmakuroane wa ga phuduhucwana!

Since the official launch of "Public Transport Month" by the Minister of
Transport Jeff Radebe on Friday, 29 September, in Midrand (Johannesburg), it
has been a very hectic period for us as the department.

I have been interacting with communities and various stakeholders in
creating public awareness about the importance of using public transport, to
ensure popular participation and partnerships for public transport
transformation and improvements, raising awareness of the important role of
transport and benefits as part of the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for
South Africa (AsgiSA), to showcase transport programmes or initiatives with
positive impact. That perhaps partly explains the reason why, "Public Transport
Month", in our view, cannot be complete in this province, without today's visit
to Taung:

* to highlight the need for improvement of rural transport infrastructure
and services
* to showcase the improvements in transport services in rural areas especially
the non-motorised transport activities.

It has been our wish as a department and government to reach out to our
people who reside in the deep rural areas of our province and country. It is
through visits like this that one is enable see first hand, areas that need
urgent intervention; check on how projects are doing and whether indeed service
delivery is seen to be happening on the ground; and whether the lives of our
rural communities and the poorest of poor are changing for the better since
1994, and during this "Age of Hope".

Access to reliable, safe and affordable transport service by every citizen
of this country, is a fundamental policy of government. Accordingly, an
institutional policy framework is in place for government, through a shared
mandate between the National Department of Transport, Provincial Department of
Transport, Roads and Community Safety and Local Government to deliver on this
objective.

Public Transport, in most of our rural areas and villages is inaccessible
due to a number of factors. Many roads in our rural areas are generally of very
poor standards and almost gravel roads. The challenge for the department is
this rural road infrastructure backlog that we are grappling with. We are
determined to succeed.

The plan of this department in the next financial year, is to re-direct
resources to the Bophirima Region as a whole for development of roads and that
includes Taung.

Because of poor road infrastructure in most rural areas, there is less
public transport activity, in the form of taxis and busses. Public transport
therefore becomes an inaccessible and unaffordable mode of transport for rural
communities, partly because of poor road infrastructure.

Programme director, transport is the heartbeat of the economy. Good and well
maintained roads will give rise to increased economic activity and growth,
irrespective of how remote a rural area is from the major metropolitan areas.
That explains why due to the lack of a Pubic Transport network, most of our
people in villages around Taung have to walk long distances to access some of
the most basic services.

To visit friends or relatives, in Dryharts, Manthe, Matlapeng, Lokaleng or
to here in Loselong village, you need to pre-plan your trip very carefully. Our
people are forced to walk long distances to get to the nearest pick-up point
before they can ultimately access public transport to towns like Vryburg and
Mafikeng.

This is why we, as the Department of Transport Roads and Community Safety
initiated possible alternatives to provide affordable, reliable and efficient
transportation of passengers and goods in support of the social and economic
development needs in the rural communities of our province.

Our learners today still walk long distances everyday to access the nearest
institutions of learning. These challenges have inspired us to introduce
initiatives aimed at improving the use of non-motorised transport and integrate
them into the current public transport systems.

Non-motorised transport is cost effective, safe, user-friendly and very
environmental friendly. Efforts to improve the traditional animal drawn cart
and promote the usage thereof in the North West began in 2002, with the
department's commissioning of the Free State Technikon, with the approval of
the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), to develop standardised
proto-type animal drawn cart with certain specification for the province.

These standards included comfort and safety features for example:

* size to accommodate and carry at least eight people
* all weather usage with cover
* safe seats with comfort features
* reflective chevrons on the rear of the cart for improve visibility by
motorists especially at night or during bad weather.

The strategic approach that we developed as part of the feasibility study
exercise for the implementation of the animal drawn carts indicated that the
use of this mode of transport in many rural areas is common and an acceptable
way to live.

As part of the implementation plan, I am delighted to announce that we are
here today to donate 25 animal drawn carts to some of the beneficiaries here in
Taung.

There are three types of animal drawn carts that you will take delivery of
today.

* ten- or nine-seater taxi wood, which cost R21 635 each
* ten- or nine-seater taxi aluminium, which cost R21 709 each
* five, freight carts, which are also called four-wheel builder's bakkie which
cost R21 885 each.

The department is the owner of these carts, that we are today donating to 25
people to start a rural transport partnership. The beneficiaries have been
identified through what we call "Travel Demand Survey" and structured into
"rural transport partnerships" in some of the areas which were affected by the
devastating floods early this year.

The used of these animal drawn carts would not be different in purpose to
that served by existing ones in our villages. The only difference with these
new models of wagons is that, we have added several safety and comfort features
never seen anywhere in this province before.

I can assure you, if donkeys or horses could speak they too would nod in
approval and give these carts a vote of confidence. We have got the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) on board to ensure the good health
of the animals.

To rural communities and residents of Taung, these animal drawn carts which
we have just unveiled will be used to:

* transport people, including our senior citizens (pensioners) to social
facilities such as pension pay points and clinics
* transportation of goods or even fresh produce from your farms which have to
be transported to a market place
* transportation of water for household consumption in the village.

The key element of the strategy is to explore the feasibility of the
inclusion of animal drawn carts into the main stream of public transport in
areas where this mode presents itself as an ideal.

There is a great possibility that this project could be rolled out to other
regions of the province should there be a need for this transport mode. In
dealing with the challenge of learners walking long distances to and from
schools, the Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety is today also
handing over 318 bicycles.

Programme director,

The Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety has allocated in
total 15 408 bicycles to the province. In your region (Bophirima), we have
allocated 1 364 in 35 schools.

I am very proud indeed that a partnership with the National Department of
Transport and the Department of Education has contributed to the achievement of
this initiative.

This partnership will ensure the rollout of "Shova Kalula" the bicycle
programme, which the National Department of Transport has set the goal of
distributing one million affordable bicycles country-wide within the period of
10 years.

Surely, the three to four hours of walking to school will now be reduced to
at least 45 minutes of cycling in pleasure. We will also make sure that proper
training on Road Safety precaution is provided to safeguard the use of these
carts and bicycles on public roads.

Furthermore, we will ensure the availability of one stop service centres in
the villages, for the maintenance and repair of these bicycles at low cost in
the event of breakdowns. Over an above that, may I please make a humble request
to parents that these bicycles are donated to your children as a gesture by
your caring government so that our learners can ride to school instead of
walking. We have heard of incidents where some parents/elders have dispossessed
learners of bicycles thus defeating the objective of this noble initiative. We
urge you to stop this practice.

In order to ensure proper utilisation and control of these bicycles and many
more that we will roll out in future, our department, in partnership with the
Department of Education, is in the process of reviewing the "ownership model".
It is important that parents play a role in terms of ensuring the proper use of
bicycles.

In conclusion programme director,

The whole of Bophirima Region is earmarked for serious development during
the next financial year and the Department of Transport Roads and Community
Safety will play a critical role, especially with the road infrastructure and
its maintenance.

There are several roads that we have prioritised for re-gravelling, sealing,
development and rehabilitation in the Bophirima Region.

I hope when these projects are complete, I will see many of these animal
drawn carts and bicycles in use in this part of the country to create a better
life for all.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West
Provincial Government
19 October 2006
Source: North West Provincial Government (http://www.nw.gov.za)