Honourable Minister Dr Sbu Ndebele
Executive Mayor of KSD Cllr Mlamli
Executive Mayor of OR Tambo District Cllr Capa
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Traditional Leaders
Representatives of the Faith-Based Organisations
Representatives of our law enforcement agencies
Acting Director-General of Transport Mr Mahlalela
CEO of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) Mr Rakgoale
CEO of the SA Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA)
CEO of the Moral Regeneration Movement
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is indeed a great privilege for us as the Province of the Eastern Cape to host the Minister of Transport for the first time in his capacity as the head of this portfolio.
On behalf of Provincial Government, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all faith-based organizations that are represented here today for their contribution to our road safety programme.
It is indeed when we work together that we can be able to do more in raising road safety awareness.
To the road accidents victims and family members of all those who lost their lives on our roads, may the Almighty continue to give you strength to confront the challenges of life without your loved ones, who were bread winners, professionals, heads of families, sisters and brothers.
Today marks a launching pad of our Provincial Arrive Alive Campaign, which seeks to ensure that we provide safe passage for all road users during this festive season.
Last Sunday, the Minister gave a clear line of march for all of us and as the Province, we remain committed to ensure that we continue to reduce the number of accidents on our roads.
Last year, we had a 30% decrease and we have set ourselves a clear target of reducing the number of accidents even more through a zero tolerance approach.
This festive season will see another increased effort to ensure that we save lives and protect all law abiding citizens, when using our roads.
Our Arrive Alive Campaign is underway and already, road traffic offenders are beginning to feel our zero tolerance approach.
Through our multi-agency collaboration, we are convinced that we can register more successes during this season.
Last weekend alone, our provincial and municipal traffic officers arrested 169 drunk drivers in Buffalo City, Uitenhage and Aliwal North.
Through our rolling law enforcement plan, we are going to reach out in all corners of this Province to ensure that we clean our roads and pave way for law-abiding citizens.
We are going to further pay a particular attention to unroadworthy Public Transport vehicles. Already, we have suspended 17 busses and 10 mini busses in the Queenstown and Mount Frere areas and this will be intensified throughout the province.
Honourable Minister, in this Province we have established a roving task team that is doing excellent work in restoring law and order on our roads.
Since its inception last December, this task team has:
* arrested 3 381 drunk drivers,
* issued 24 940 summonses worth r12million
* suspended 1 734 vehicles
* confiscated 209 misused government vehicles
As we move towards the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we are continuously improving the team’s capacity through including newly graduated officers and integrating the South African Police Service (SAPS) in our operations.
We are simultaneously investing in road safety education mostly targeting youth. Through our Learner Driver Project, which is targeting Grade 11 and 12 learners, we have reached 337 learners from 33 schools throughout the Province.
This festive season, we have a strong partnership with the Road Traffic Management Corporation and uMhlobo Wenene FM in order to maximize our road safety education campaign, which is going to start tomorrow in Mount Frere.
Without further ado, let me take this opportunity to introduce a man, who is widely known as “Manzankosi”, a deployee of the African National Congress National Executive Committee in this province.
Through his work as the MEC for Transport in KwaZulu-Natal, he earned a status of a “true road safety political champion and ambassador”.
He is a former Premier of KwaZulu-Natal and after the 2009 General Election, he was appointed the Minister of Transport of the Republic of South Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for our Minister Dr Joel Sbu Ndebele!
Issued by: Department of Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
10 December 2009
Source: Department of Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ectransport.gov.za/)
