Roads and Community Safety delivered by MEC Jerry Dimotana Thibedi
Madam Speaker
Honourable Premier
Colleagues in the Executive Council
Chairperson of the Standing Committee
Members of the Legislature
Heads of Department
Senior Managers of government
Management and staff from my department
Business people
Professionals
Member of the media
Distinguished guests
People of the North West province
Compatriots, comrades and friends
Introduction
Madam Speaker, I stand before you and your august House to present a report
on the progress achieved by the Department of Transport, Roads and Community
Safety since I made a similar presentation this time last year; to present our
plans and related budget for the year ahead, and to ask your House for approval
of the said budget.
You will recall that last year I ended my policy statement by saying that,
"the road to the promised land of emancipation is rocky and thorny, but we
shall patiently tread on it until we reach our destination. Together as a
province we can and must create conducive conditions for the success of
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA) by making it a strategy for
development and prosperity."
Madam Speaker, the successful implementation of AsgiSA can only be achieved
through sustained and strategic economic leadership from government and
effective partnership between government and stakeholders such as labour and
business. As a provincial government we have set an economic growth target of
6,6% in order to realise the objective of halving unemployment and poverty by
2014.
To achieve this growth, binding constraints were identified and Madam
Speaker, I will only focus on those relevant to the department:
* the increased need for improvement in government capital expenditure.
* optimising on the cost, efficiency and capacity of the national logistics
system to reduce the backlog in infrastructure investment and create an
environment where competition is encouraged and the price of moving goods
between and conveying services is minimised.
Roads infrastructure programmes have been identified as one of the response
binding constraints to a positive impact on accelerating and adding impetus to
growth. For the edification of this House, the meaning of the word
'infrastructure' has mutated over the years. It once was associated with the
building of roads, railways lines, dams, installation of telephone lines and
the setting up of radio transmission equipment. Then it meant electrifying
streets, building airports and seaports of high traffic capacity.
Lately, it is associated with the creation of the capacity to be part of the
information age: One family, one satellite dish; one child, one computer, being
part of the global village where the disparities of space and time are
increasingly becoming of academic relevance only. The people of this province
look at my department to a time when they can have reliable and inexpensive
public transport and a decent road network to enable free mobility. For now,
these are for a selected few in selected areas of our province.
Paved roads
Paved roads in our province carrying an estimated 15,3 million vehicles
kilometres per day. The current condition of the paved network is fair, with 13
percent in very good condition, 29 percent in good condition, 36 percent in
fair condition, 17 percent in poor condition and five percent in very poor
condition.
The potential asset value of the paved network is R15,5 billion at replacement
value, current value is however R12 billion (i.e. 77 percent of replacement
value) due to current road conditions.
Maintenance
Paved roads require basically three types of maintenance in an attempt to
protect our economic asset namely:
Daily routine maintenance: includes interventions such as grass cutting,
road signs, road markings, and cleaning of culverts. The estimate cost for this
is R112 million per annum.
Periodic maintenance: this is based on the assumption that our paved roads
should be resealed every seven years, thus 14% of the paved road network per
annum, requiring an annual budget of R413 million per annum. Similarly 5% of
the road network need to be rehabilitated annually every 20 years, requiring
approximately R588 million per annum. The total required thus for the
maintenance of paved roads as well as the backlog is R1,113 billion per
annum.
Maintenance needs: unpaved roads
Gavel roads also require routine and periodic maintenance in order to
protect the asset and to ensure safe and good roads. The current condition of
the gravel roads is that four percent of the network is in good conditions, 71
percent in fair condition and 25 percent in poor condition. Routine maintenance
needs are estimated at R100 million per year. Every 10 years or 10% of the
gravel network requires re-graveling. This requires approximately R500 million
per annum.
The total budget requirement for gravel roads is R600 million per
annum.
Madam Speaker the total budget needed to maintain our current total road
network is R1,613 billion. In addition, funding needs for development projects
are in excess of R1 billion. AsgiSA's goal of halving employment and poverty by
2014, further advocates for the bridging the gap between the First and Second
Economy to redress the deep-seated inequalities by targeting the marginalised
poor and creating an environment which is conducive to sustainable existence of
small businesses having relative ease of access to finance, preferential
procurement and resultant increased employment.
Once again I believe my department if sufficiently funded as per the actual
needs as explained, can plays a significant role in this regard. In addition,
the 2010 FIFA World Cup will mark the beginning of a truly global sports
calendar event that unifies nations to witness football teams playing at the
highest level featuring the best players in the world. In preparing for the
Soccer World Cup 2010, the country has two objectives:
* complying with FIFA's requirements of ensuring a state of readiness for the
games and honouring our commitments as spelt out in the Bid Book.
* using the coming events to launch, promote and facilitate investments that
will leave a lasting legacy of social and economic benefits for our people.
One of FIFA's expectations is for the host city to have a quality public
transportation system that is safe, efficient and reliable; able to cater for
the needs of various categories of users, including teams, team officials,
referees, media sponsors and suppliers and spectators that include people with
disabilities. Requirements are clear and strict including for example that
travel times from places of accommodation and match venues will be within 30
minutes radius. To this end we have signed an agreement with the Royal Bafokeng
Nation to improve the road between Phokeng and Sun City to cater for the
expected number of tourists and spectators who are expected to descend into
Phokeng to watch the games. This type of intervention will not only create a
sustainable legacy, but will equally contribute to the intended growth rate in
the province.
In addition to the matters stated above, the department will have an
on-going sectoral analysis system in place to see how our objectives can
influence economic growth. The department is working together with its
stakeholders to attend to infrastructure challenges in terms of roads and
public transport needs especially in Rustenburg, one of the host cities for the
2010 Soccer World Cup, and also the fastest growing city in Southern Africa. To
this end, a Technical Committee comprising all stakeholders has been appointed
to coordinate activities for the 2010 preparation. This Committee is expected
to issue a detailed report with recommendations soon.
Analysis of the 2006/07 financial year
Madam Speaker, I preamble my report on our achievements during the 2006/07
financial year, with an important note that during the Independent Africa
Professional Management Review Awards of 2006, the department achieved second
position overall for our contribution towards the prosperity and growth in the
province. We achieved the same position again for achieving our set goals. It
was indeed an honour for us as a department to receive these awards in
recognition of our efforts to change for the better the livelihoods of the
communities we serve. We shall continue to work harder to achieve even greater
heights.
Administration
In any organisation, human resources is a cornerstone which determines the
success or failure to achieve the set objectives. To this end, the department
strives to ensure that our employees have ongoing and equitable access to
training geared towards achieving an efficient, non-partisan and representative
public service. We are proud to report that 285 employees have been enrolled
for Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) and 38 employees have been
financially assisted to undertake studies at tertiary institutions.
The department has facilitated the implementation of transverse internship
and learnership programmes. During the year under review 45 unemployed
graduates were appointed on internship programme. Learnership: 13 unemployed
youth has been appointed on the Skills Programme, Road Safety Management and 20
learners have been appointed on Law Enforcement for duration of 12 months.
Department is making remarkable progress with regard to employment equity. We
have exceeded the 30% target of affirmative action for female Senior Management
Service (SMS) members. The department has approximately 40% of women in the SMS
level. One Executive Manager is a female amongst five male Executive Managers,
whereas the department has twelve males against eight females on director
level. In total there are nine female SMS members and seventeen male SMS
members. The department is committed to women empowerment and continues to make
a conscious effort to appoint women in its top structure on their merits and
not as a matter of tokenism!
Financial Management and Revenue
It must be noted by the public and members of this House that we are still
operating in an environment of having to service unlimited needs on a limited
budget. In the last two financial periods, the department has been able to
spend its allocated budget without any capacity constraints. We continue to
re-invent ourselves to be more efficient. Therefore, the problem the department
is facing is not on how to spend our budget, but rather where we are going to
obtain additional funds to address the deteriorating state of our road network,
ever-increasing public transport needs for the workers, aged and learners.
As part of our effort to increase and maximise revenue in order to assist in
the self-funding of these increasing demands, the department has made
arrangements through the office of the Accountant-General, to have outstanding
motor vehicle licenses paid at First National Bank outlets throughout the
country. This initiative is in line with making services accessible to the
motoring public, as well as ensuring that revenue owed to the department is
collected efficiently.
In the spirit of Batho Pele, we have taken initiative to further make
services accessible to the citizens of the province, as well as to ensure
effective and efficient collection of revenue. To this end, the department is
currently investigating the possibility to render, via the South African Post
Office, the Since the introduction of the call centre for the misuse of
Government motor vehicles, the public has reported a total of 145 cases of
misuse. These cases range from reckless and negligent driving to unauthorised
use.
Roads
"Re le utlwile" when directly translated means "we have as a department
heard" your calling when it comes to the improvement of our road network
system. Our province earned the infamous reputation of being dubbed the "pot
hole province". We responded by implementing a programme of action aptly called
"Thiba Pothole Programme". Thiba pothole programme targeted the Bophirima and
Central regions with the view to eliminating potholes on the worst affected
roads; R70 million was set aside for this project.
Madame Speaker, at this point I believe it is noteworthy that some level of
success has been achieved in meeting the objectives of the Thiba pothole goal.
Patching potholes will always be a Sisyphean task. That is why while we think
we are making good progress; we get complaints about more potholes in other
roads. Our effort to rid ourselves of this reputation may not wane, but we will
continue to tackle the hot-spot areas with the limited resources at our
disposal.
Madam Speaker what is important is that we should realise that our road
network is an asset, an asset which can unlock other economic potential if
taken care of. In the past financial year we have upgraded 140 kilometres of
paved road. In addition, a total 36 kilometres of roads were resealed and 85
kilometres rehabilitated. We also re-gravelled 23 kilometres of roads in the
farming community of Schweizer-Reneke in Bophirima where the community
organised an official ceremony in appreciation of the project.
The upgrading of Nelson Mandela Drive to Ramatlabama Border Post is now on
full steam and construction for the single and dual carriageway is expected to
be completed by the end of June, and November this year, respectively. In March
2007 the people of Lonely Park through which the road passes demonstrated by
toy-toying and complaining about low intake of local labour on the project.
My officials looked into the matter and found that activities requiring
labour input only started in earnest in (this month) May 2007 with the
construction of the paved road for non-motorised traffic, which will run from
Dada Motors to the Hotel School.
This construction together with the paving of the medians will create more
jobs from now until November when the project will be completed. The medians
referred to will separate the dual carriageway and the drain, and also act as a
safety feature to prevent livestock from straying onto the road. To date about
82 people of all-locallabour, are employed on the project, with 26 of them
being from Lonely Park and the rest coming from villages along the road to
Ramatlabama.
The department, in partnerships with our sister departments, such as Public
Works and Agriculture, continues to contribute to the development projects in
Modimong and Modimola. Two hundred and thirty-eight (238) contracts were
awarded under the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) throughout the
province. This was with the primary aim of maintaining our roads over a
three-year period. The contractors are expected to carry out activities such as
grass cutting, fencing, road markings and guardrail repairs. Out of this total,
178 contractors are women. Two women contractors were appointed for Capex
programme. Three women contractors were appointed in emergency patchwork. This
brings a total number of women contractors appointed to 183. A total of 4 295
jobs have been created under both Capital and EPWP. Of these 2 214 went to the
youth, whilst 1 865 were women and 11 disabled. Both the Draft Road Agency Act
Bill and North West Roads Bill will be submitted to this Legislature for
approval. These will see the creation of the road agency leading to possible
access to additional funding for the road network by the department.
Public Transport
Madam Speaker, of the number of promises that I made to this House last
year, one, sadly, did not materialise. This was the redeployment of the
remaining two operating centres of North West Star (NWS) before end of March
2007.
Although we are the shareholder of the company, the Gauteng Government pays
the subsidy and the value of the company is tied to the subsidy contract.
Within the broader Gauteng there is a huge demand for the restructuring of
public transport and therefore, Gauteng must first finalise their integrated
public transport plans in conjunction with the Tshwane Municipality before sale
of these two deports takes place. However I trust that by end of this financial
year (2007/08) the matter will be finalised. Honourable Members, the
establishment of taxi retail installations (TRIs) is continuing at a steady
pace. taxi retail stations are one-stop shops comprising filling stations,
service and repair centres, owned by the taxi co-operatives, to service the
taxi association. To establish such centres, the co-operatives must, amongst
other things, secure business sites ideally nearest to taxi ranks.
I commend the taxi industry for their innovative strategic partnership
through co-operation agreements with 24 fuel outlets throughout the province
whilst negotiating the establishment of TRIs. In addition, the industry has
concluded a strategic partnership with a property development company and
various sites have been identified for the development of integrated public
transport and it is assisting in the development and funding of upgraded
certain Taxi rank facilities as well as infrastructure for commuters. This move
will have capital and operational cost savings to municipalities.
The long awaited taxi-scrapping programme in the taxi industry was launched
at Olympia Stadium in Rustenburg in our province on Monday, 18 March 2007. Let
me acknowledge the taxi industry's endeavours and support in complying fully
with the requirements of recapitalisation. I congratulate the industry for the
pride they brought to the province in being the first to comply with all the
requirements for recapitalisation. We are amongst the leading provinces on
rollout with regards to applications received, replacements approved, as well
as vehicles scrapped.
The latest information shows that 607 applications for scrapping have been
received. Out of these 405 were requested to report on site for inspection and
278 has thus far reported. A total of 163 vehicles have been scrapped. 106
vehicles are waiting physical scrapping. A total of 218 applicants have each
been paid the scrapping fee of R50 000. We will continue with the process of
recapitalisation in the spirit of our President at the State of the
Nation
Address when he said: "Government and our partners in South African National
Taxi Association Council (SANTACO) will not be bullied into abandoning the Taxi
Recapitalisation project, and any attempts to undermine public order in pursuit
of selfish interest will be dealt with accordingly.
I am pleased to confirm that the Provincial Operating Licensing Board has
issued 11 455 operating licences throughout the province. As a spin-off of this
process, we now have an updated database of legal taxi operators. This source
of information will positively enhance law enforcement in curtailing illegal
operations which have been a major contributor to Taxi conflict amongst
operators.
Aviation
Transport month, October, was launched in style in the province during the
Mafikeng International Air Show. The Transport month was significant because of
the highly successful Mafikeng International Air show. The South African Aero
Club, the controlling body for all sport aviation activities in the country,
voted the Mafikeng Air Show the third best in South Africa for 2006. Numerous
aviation-related activities took place during last year. The year started off
with the adoption of the Sasol Tigers Jet Aerobatic Display team. The Premier
and I became the first members of any Executive Council in South Africa to
actually fly in formation and be part of an air display.
The department also managed and supervised the first air show of its kind in
South Africa, at a non-aviation facility, as part of the African Air Race
challenge at Hartbeespoortdam. The province then also exhibited at the
Prestigious Africa Aero Space and Defence Show in Cape Town. In addition, in
December 2006, more than 300 skydivers from around the world participated at a
free fall convention held at Mafikeng Airport. The national Department of
Transport has recognised the efforts by the North West Government in promoting
and bringing aviation to the people and the Mafikeng Airport by requesting us
to host the International Civil Aviation day on 7 December 2006.
Road Traffic Management
Madam Speaker, in the period 1 December 2006 to 10 January 2007 the number
of fatal road crashes increased by eight incidents (7,48%) from 107 during the
same period the previous year to 115. The number of road fatalities increased
by 12 (9,46%) from 123 during the 2005/06 festive season to 135 over the
2006/07 period, I find solace in and announce that it appears that our
pedestrian awareness and education Road Safety campaigns are successful. The
fatal accident statistics for the December 2006 period showed a decline of
pedestrian fatalities to 12 less than the same period the previous year. This
is a decrease of 19,91%. As part of Road Safety Promotion the Department
organised the following events:
* The Provincial Lady Driver Competition took place on 4 to 6 August 2006 in
the Rustenburg Local Municipality.
* The Provincial Driver of the Year Competition (Heavy Truck and Bus) took
place on 31 August to 3 September 2006 in the Vryburg-Naledi Municipality
* The 2007 Provincial Taxi Competition took place on 22 to 23 March 2007 at
Matlosana.
The province was represented in the South African team that competed in the
International Heavy Vehicle Driver Competition held in Luxemburg on the 28
September 2006. The province also participated in the national Driver of the
Year Competition held in Kimberley in October 2006. Unfortunately we could not
retain our number one spot we have been occupying for the past four years. On
19 November 2006 the province hosted International Remembrance Day at Mmabatho
Stadium. This day commemorates and remembers all the victims of road
accidents.
Monitoring and oversight
In line with the annual performance plan, the following activities were
carried out by the programme during the year under review:
* assessing compliance to safety and handling of detainees or offenders in
police custody
* assess the extent to which the service charter for victims is implemented by
the South African Police Service (SAPS)
* community satisfaction survey on service delivery
The assessments of these projects were conducted through police station
visits, consultation with crime prevention structures and analysis of SAPS
reports.
Madam Speaker, the Provincial Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
Strategy was approved by the Executive Council and piloted at Kanana in the
Matlosana Local Municipality. The result showed that, if well implemented by
all municipalities it may contribute immensely towards eliminating
opportunities for crime. We reported in the last financial year that we will
develop the Provincial Anti Rape Strategy. After further research and
consultation within the Criminal Justice Cluster, we agreed that what is
required is an all inclusive Sexual Offences Strategy which is broader than the
Anti Rape Strategy.
We have already started with this process and will complete the strategy by
the end of 2007. An audit of all community policing forums (CPFs) conducted by
both the department and the Internal Auditors. Some of the findings confirm our
decision to review alternative ways of funding of the Community policing
Forums.
The new method of funding CPFs was put into operation through a Protocol on
Management and Funding of Community Policing Forums. In order to standardise
the Community policing Forums operations, Minister Charles Nqakula established
the National Consultative Forum of the Community Policing Board to be attended
by Chairpersons of the Provincial Boards to look into uniform Standards of
operation for all structures.
In light of the above, we will also align the CPF operations upon
finalisation of the process. We also have carried out several crime prevention
campaigns in a number of areas. The alcohol and drug abuse remains a problem in
our society contributing towards the high level of crime in the province
including women and childe abuse. While we can say that we have managed to
conduct these workshops to the different sectors of the communities, our
challenge remains the impact we make through these campaigns. We also held a
successful 16 days of Activism of no Violence against women and children. Our
plan now is to extend the campaign to 365 days following the May 2006 national
conference under the banner: 365 Days of Action to End Gender Violence. During
February Safety and Security Letsema Month, the following achievements were
recorded:
* The Crime Prevention through Environmental Design and Maintenance Strategy
was launched with attendance of about 14 municipalities, SAPS and community
policing forums.
* Two hotspots were also cleared in Vryburg (an area commonly known as the
Buffer Zone where robberies, assaults, rapes and murders usually take place was
cleared with attendance of 112 volunteers and 88 officials from the department,
SAPS, Correctional Services and Justice and Constitutional Development. In
Lichtenburg, an area known as "Mashapiro", where robberies, assaults, rapes and
murders took place was also cleared by about Hundred and ninety four 194
volunteers.
* Two alcohol and drug abuse campaigns were held for the learners of Kgononyane
High school in Ganyesa, Ikopanyeng and Onkabetse Thuto Secondary schools in
Setlagole.
* We also went out to recruit reservists and we are positive that we will be
receiving applications from members of communities to volunteer as
reservists.
* as part of the ongoing public education programme in the criminal justice, we
managed jointly with our Provincial Justice Crime Prevention and Security
Cluster partners conducted open courts for the public in Ganyesa, Madikwe
Moretele Klerksdorp with a view to workshop them on the machinery of the
criminal justice system. A total number of 300 community members attended these
workshops
* We awarded also the best police officers, provincial traffic officers and
community policing forums for the meritorious work performed during 2006 in the
Provincial Crime Prevention Awards held on the 23 February in Rustenburg.
I am pleased to announce that SAPS have successfully completed the
restructuring of policing areas to form cluster police stations.
You will recall that last year I indicated that the aim of clustering these
police stations is to reduce the many command and controls which impeded
decision-making, to increase effective allocation of resources to police
stations and improve operational capacity through the transfer of police
members currently at support services in both head and area police quarters.
The province experienced yet another steady decline `in crime over the period
2005/06. Contact crimes decreased by 14%, for example murder decreased by 6,4%,
attempted murder by 18.8%, assault (common) by 21,7%, indecent assault by
17,6%, robbery (common) by 23.7%, arson by 10.5% and malicious damage to
property by 8,1%. Property related crimes such as burglary decreased by 1,7%,
burglary (business) by 0,2%, theft out and from vehicles by 2,9% and stock
theft by 16.1% and statistics relating to drug related crimes increased by
11,3% due to positive police action.
As the 2006/07 Annual Report of the South African Police Service will be
tabled in this House later during this year, I will not elaborate on the crime
statistics for the year under review save to congratulate our men and women in
blue for successfully dealing with 10 organised crime syndicates involved in
drugs, aggravating robbery, dealing in precious metals and stones and stock
theft; as well as for the speedy arrest of the killers of Constable Mabaso of
Ga-Rankuwa.
Outlook for 2007/08 financial year
Madam Speaker, I will now highlight the key issues for the 2007/08 financial
year.
Programme 1: Administration R108,887 million
The focus of this programme is mainly to provide executive leadership,
financial and human resource management to the department. We will continue to
improve our internal processes in order to meet the expected standards of
service delivery to our clients. Our determination to eradicate fraud and
corruption at motor vehicle registering authorities has not faltered. The
implementation and rollout of Best Practice Model will continue, starting this
year in Vryburg and Potchefstroom.
The efforts to curb fraud and corrupt practices at motor vehicles
registering authorities and testing stations will be assisted by the
introduction of the eNaTIS system that was launched by the Minister of
Transport on 17 April 2007. This system will reduce the long queues at testing
stations through the systems flexibility to do some transactions online. The
new eNaTIS system replaces the old Natis System. Our honest belief is that is
that once the dust from the implementation glitches has settled, the public
will reap the benefits of this world-class system.
The department is in the process of reviewing and rehabilitating number
plates for North West province in order to improve security features. Details
hereof will be announced in due course. With regard to human resource
development, the department will aim to address scarce skills by providing
internship/ learnership programmes for the unemployed youth. Twenty (20) new
learners will be appointed on information technology, 15 on transport
management and on safety management.
Programme 2: Road Infrastructure R645,399 million
We will continue to heed the call of our public to .create safer roads in
our province and direct any related investment in an enabling manner that
favours employment creation and the general transformation of the construction
sector in terms of both gender and race participation. The department's major
goal will be to upgrade economic roads that will have a significant impact on
the economic development and job creation within our province.
In the previous financial year we started contracts with a value of R341,749
million. These will continue as planned. In this financial year we plan to
advertise and award contracts for the following roads:
* road P68/2 between Tosca and Jakkelskop. Tender for this road closed on 17
May 2007. The estimated cost is R16,788 580 million.
* road D327a between Ganyesa and Tlhakgameng
* road D415 between Dinokana and Gopane: This road Madam Speaker, was affected
by social unrest within the community where our people demonstrated toy-toying
demanding that the road be rehabilitated.
My department moved swiftly and appointed a contractor and today I am
pleased to report that the rehabilitation works will be completed by end of
July. Rustenburg-Koster Road (R52) work has already started on this road and it
was partially closed for traffic on Monday, 14 May 2007, for rehabilitation.
The road will remain closed until end of January 2008.The rehabilitation work
on this 34 kilometres stretch is estimated to cost the department approximately
R40 million. Towards the end of the financial year and over the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period our focus on the improvement and planning
of our road network will shift towards the Bophirima Region with the view to
bring about easier mobility in the often neglected remote and rural areas of
our province.
In the meantime a total of nine consultants have been appointed to prepare
scoping reports for the rehabilitation and upgrading of roads in the Bophirima
Region. The projects are to be implemented over the MTEF period and should
provide a stimulus for job creation and economic growth in the region. The
scoping of roads in the Merafong area has been completed. The next phase will
be the design of identified roads. Once finalised, these roads will also be
factored into our MTEF programme.
Programme 3: Transport services R388,618 million
The taxi industry's transformation and empowerment process is an integral
part of the Department's initiatives to enhance the quality and cost of public
transport provision. Madam Speaker, I want to applaud the Taxi Industry for
their constructive and focused endeavours in contributing to the economic
growth of our province and I call upon them to maintain their constructive and
progressive approach to the Taxi restructuring and empowerment. Nothing must
stop our partnership in achieving our mutual objective of an empowered Taxi
Industry in our Province. Madam Speaker, as I have already mentioned the taxi
recapitalisation process has now reached a point of no return with the process
of scrapping old vehicles having started. We will continue working in
partnership with the taxi industry and other stakeholders to ensure the
successful implementation of this project.
However, there are these persistent allegations in Rustenburg that law
enforcers and government officials are involved as participants in conflicts on
one or other side in the taxi industry, thus creating the situation whereby no
decisive action is taken during conflict situation. I have therefore decided
that an independent investigation will be conducted to verify these
allegations. This investigation will start not later than Sunday, 1 July
2007.
Madam Speaker, on Friday, 11 May 2007, I met with the Merafong Taxi
Associations. They raised a number of concerns which we have agreed to
implement through a structured intervention during this year. By October 2007
the first draft of a comprehensive Social Transport Strategy will be ready for
consideration by government.
This strategy will also consider route designs for scholar transport for the
whole province and to establish the needs and associated cost implications to
fully implement scholar transport for all learners walking more than five
kilometres to schools. This will be done in conjunction with the Department of
Education. The department will in conjunction with the South African Rail
Commuter Corporation conduct an investigation to establish rail needs
especially on the Gauteng to Rustenburg/Sun City and Gauteng to Mafikeng
routes.
Madam Speaker, with regards to aviation, I expect Mafikeng International Air
show 2007 to be nominated as the best Air show in the country. I would also
like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to the Mafikeng Air show to be
held on 6 October 2007 at the Mafikeng Airport. We intend to make this year's
event even more memorable. Once again, the Free Fall Convention will take place
in December 2007 and the Department is currently in discussion with the
organisers of the World Gliding Championship to have the World event once again
staged in Mafikeng during 2009/10.
The transfer of the international airport status from Pilanesberg to
Mafikeng Airport is in an advanced stage. We expect a final decision in due
course.
I am proud to announce that we have entered into an agreement with a company
called Africa Union Aviation Academy. In terms of the agreement they would be
operating a flying school at Mafikeng Airport. They have relocated from
Kimberley to Mafikeng Airport and have already started flying lessons with
students that they brought along from Kimberley. Currently they are busy
upgrading the infrastructure at the Airport to be in line with the Civil
Aviation Authority requirements.
Obviously this is a very exciting venture and we are expecting the local
population to benefit not only in employment opportunities but also in
acquiring the necessary skills. Madam Speaker this agreement demonstrates our
seriousness about government policies like Provincial Growth and Development
and AsgiSA. We hope to make an official opening of the aviation school
sometimes in July 2007.
In line with the foregoing, I am proud to stand before this august House to
announce the relocation of Aviation Solutions from OR Tambo International to
Mafikeng Airport. Aviation Solutions is an aircraft heavy maintenance company
formed two years ago by a group of licensed and well experienced aircraft
engineers. In March 2007, it relocated to Mafikeng Airport although still
retaining its customer base.
We are confident that, as this ccompany begins to grow, they will be able to
create employment opportunities for the local job seekers. The local industry
and local suppliers will also benefit as well. This development will lead to
the growth and expansion of the local economy and indeed of the North West
province.
Programme 4: Road traffic management R314,027 million
The noticeable increasing trend in the accident rate over the past years
poses a serious challenge. This calls for greater focus on the forms of
interventions required reducing road accidents and creating a safer road
environment for all Madam Speaker, you will recall that during the State of the
Province Address the Premier indicated that and I quote: "There is an urgent
need for all of us to deliberate on necessary strategies we need to adopt to
halt this carnage on our roads. We shall be calling a multi-sectoral Provincial
Road Safety Indaba to deliberate on this matter. We are conscious that this is
a national problem, but we are determined to do our part to contribute to the
promotion of a new consciousness in road users, particularly in our province.
My department shall in the second half of this year host this Indaba. Without
pre-empting the outcome of the Indaba, the following are recognised as
immediate challenges:
* The current number of traffic officers in the province remains largely
inadequate, especially in view of the dire need to deliver a twenty-four hour
service. Currently approximately a 16 hour-day service is being rendered. It is
estimated that additional 350 officers are needed to render the 24-hour service
and contend with the increasing traffic management challenges, particularly as
anticipated towards 2010.
* Most traffic management researches conducted nationally and in collaboration
with other countries abroad, most notably, Sweden, showed that every 15 minutes
of visible presence of traffic officers on public roads, especially in marked
vehicles, results in positive road user behaviour, which, amongst other things,
effectively increases compliance with road traffic rules. To bring about higher
traffic officer visibility, the Department will in this financial year purchase
50 marked highway patrol vehicles.
* Additional funding for additional officers as well as overtime and night duty
allowances is required, as most accidents occur during late afternoons into the
night.
* Coupled with normal law enforcement, there is an increased demand to clamp
down on overloading, as this causes severe damage to our road network.
Additional human and other resources are also needed for this.
Programme 5: Community-based programme R35 million
The focus of this programme is the implementation of labour intensive
programmes in order to create jobs, alleviate poverty and develop skills. We
will continue implementing labour intensive projects under the Expanded Public
Works Programme.
Programme 6: Monitoring and oversight R42,179 million
The department will continue with its civilian oversight of South African
Police Service. The following provides a list of short, medium and long term
projects:
* monitor and oversee SAPS stock theft units with regard to responses and
success rate on reported cases of stock thefts
* monitor and oversee SAPS with regard to compliance with departmental
recommendations
* assess SAPS Infrastructure Development programme
* monitoring and oversee SAPS performance on implementation of the operational
plan
* assess SAPS with regard to successful implementation of the employment equity
and skills development
* assess SAPS effectiveness and efficiency at Community Service Centres on
service delivery through community satisfaction surveys and impromptu
visits.
The Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Strategy will be marketed
to all municipalities for implementation. In the current financial year, seven
local municipalities including Kanana will be targeted for implementation of
this strategy according to the following District Municipalities:
Bojanala District: 2
Ngaka Modiri Molema: 2
Southern District: 2
Bophirima: 1
The process will begin in June 2007 at a provincial workshop to be held in
Potchefstroom where a presentation will be made on the approved strategy. All
municipalities, departments and agencies responsible for implementing the
strategy will be invited to attend. As indicate earlier in an all-inclusive
Sexual Offences Strategy which is broader than the Anti-Rape Strategy will be
completed by the end of 2007. Our Public Education and Campaigns Programmes
will continue and the promotion of good relations via Community policing Forums
remains high on the agenda.
In preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament, the security
assessments of the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace and host city Rustenburg have
been conducted and minor upgrading is being considered by the Security Working
Committee. Any final action on upgrades will be addressed in the Provincial
Operational Plan based on the national Operational Plan. The Provincial Safety
and Security Pillar will also ensure that all stakeholders become parties to
act against crime in preparation of 2010. It should be noted that this is an
ongoing process building-up towards 2010.
Lastly, I am pleased to announce that the SAPS boundaries have been
finalised with a view of aligning them to magisterial boundaries. The proposed
date of implementation is 1 December 2007. The department of Justice still has
to clarify minor cross-boundary issues. To increase service delivery, the SAPS
have already implemented some of the proposals where our communities can
benefit from being served by a police station closer. In this regard,
Shupingstadt is now being serviced by Nietverdiend Police Station, which is
approximately 30 kilometres away instead of Motswedi Police Station which is
approximately 70 kilometres away. Setlagole Police station now serves the
entire Setlagole community and no longer just the farming areas only.
Madam Speaker, the total budget that I put before this august House for
approval is R1,534,110 billion.
Conclusion
I conclude by warning the members of this House that the continued
parsimonious allocation of resources to this department will cost us very
dearly in the coming years. The maintenance on our roads can never be done
systematically and on time, given the shoestring budget with which we operate.
I urge that in the future we be allocated budgets that match the task of
providing decent road network for our province. At the moment we are doing less
than is necessary just to arrest deterioration on our road. This can never be a
satisfactory state of affairs.
Madam Speaker I would like to thank the Premier and my colleagues in EXCO
for their continuous support. I thank you and Members of this august House for
the role you have played since 2002 when I was entrusted with the roads
functions and during the various mergers to date. I would like to thank
management and staff of my department with the words of a poem by John Keats
when he said:
Heard melodies are sweet
But those unheard are even sweeter
Therefore, ye soft pipes, play on.
Not to the sensual ear
But, more endeared pipe
To the spirit ditties of no tone.
I thank our stakeholders; without whom it would be difficult to render any
service and contribute to the efforts to improve the lives of our people. I
thank the Standing Committee for your constructive relations with the
department. Last but not least, I thank members of my family for your
unflinching support and inconvenience you endure due to my often absence from
home. While home will always be a place where we are treated the best and moan
the most, I assure you that your support does not go unnoticed.
I thank you all for listening.
Ke a leboga
Dankie
Issued by: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West
Provincial Government
22 May 2007
