Deputy Minister of Transport,
Executive Mayor and Councillors of OR Tambo District Municipality,
Executive Mayor and Councillors of KSD Municipality,
Conference delegates,
Representatives from our Sponsors (SAMSA and SANLAM),
Government officials,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Let me first take this opportunity to salute all the women of the Eastern Cape, who responded to the call that we made at the South African Network for Women in Transportation (SANWIT) Provincial Consultative Session in October 2011 that you should go back to revive your district structures.
It is, indeed, a great pleasure for me to finally witness the provincial conference, which is a culmination of those district engagement processes, where women, who are involved in the transportation business met and discussed their issues without fear or intimidation.
What an interesting way of closing the 2012 Women’s Month Campaign!
You have demonstrated the pioneering spirit of Charlotte Maxeke, the spirit of resilience of Lilian Ngoyi and the zeal of many female stalwarts, who came before us.
You have clearly demonstrated your ability to promptly respond to the clarion call made by the newly-elected Chairperson of the African Union Commission Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma at the Women in Shipping Conference two days ago, where she said:
“As African citizens we must begin to drive our own agenda for our development. It is widely acknowledged that if Africa is to become politically, economically and socially integrated, we must, amongst others, have infrastructure that connects us as well as use our generous resources for the development of our people. Our citizens and future generations deserve no less.”
I would like to remind the women of the Eastern Cape that this is our decade as the women of Africa, which has been declared by the African Union. For too long, you have been on the sidelines watching your husbands doing business in the bus and taxi industries. When they died, you were left with no knowledge of running such a business in order to continue to sustain your families.
Through SANWIT, we are clearly demonstrating commitment to ensure that we help you to move our away from your husbands’ shadows to become distinguished business women and fully-fledged transport sector activists, whose mission is to achieve economic freedom in your lifetime, while laying a solid foundation for future generations.
This year’s government theme for the Women’s Month: “Addressing Unemployment, Poverty and Inequality: Together contributing towards the progressive future for women” – gives us a responsibility as the democratic developmental state to provide women with the necessary tools that can enable them to be economically independent.
The time has come for us as government and non-governmental organisations to:
- preserve and build on the women’s strength
- leverage on global and regional political goodwill for the advancement of African women with a particular focus on youth and grassroots women.
On behalf of the Eastern Cape Department of Transport and the women of the Eastern Cape, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the sponsors of this conference, the South African Maritime Safety Authority and SANLAM.
I know that SAMSA has a lot in store for women of the Eastern Cape as a coastal province, which has not yet realised its socio-economic potential, especially in the maritime industry despite having the longest coastal route in the country.
We appreciate that SANLAM was, indeed, able to “Think Ahead” as they always claim, because financial support will be very crucial for SANWIT members in order to achieve their goals and ambitions.
Going forward, we are going to witness many economic infrastructure projects that will promote growth and development in this province and present opportunities for women.
The launch of the South East Node and Corridor under the Strategic Integrated Project 3 (SIP 3) of the National Infrastructure Development Plan has strengthened our hopes that we are not a forgotten Province.
The strategic infrastructure development projects with over R100 billion investment include:
- Eskom’s R2.7 billion intervention in 2012/13 to promote energy supply and security particularly in the underserved eastern part of the Eastern Cape and this is expectedto give impetus to many other initiatives aimed at repositioning this region as a logistics hub and a development node.
- The expansion and development of the Port of Ngqurha to be able to carry 800 000 container units as a transshipment hub. On this and other strategic ports such as East London Habour, Transnet has committed billions of rands. The decision to build a manganese export corridor from the Northern Cape to Ngqurha with an estimated value of R18 billion presents another opportunity. The same applies to the work being done to effect the R2.3 billion East London Habour improvements to enable it to meet higher auto logistics and coal exports.
- SANRAL is improving our road network with advanced work taking place on N2 and N6 as well as the 2011 km of the provincial strategic roads network handed over for upgrading and maintenance, which include the pivotal R72 road that links the two IDZs.
- The upgrading of the Mthatha Airport, which we handed over to the South African National Defence Force, is going well with a major investment of R312 million to increase and broaden the runway to cater for large aircrafts. There are more phases that are planned for the development of the Mthatha Airport.
- There are plans to revive the rail branch lines in the province, which include investing in improving Kei Rail travel times and extending the rail line to KwaZulu-Natal and partnering with PRASA to re-open the Sterkstroom-to-Maclear rail line for passenger services as well as transporting timber and coal from that region.
These projects will serve as stimulants for economic growth and job creation in the Eastern Cape. This is information that you need to have at your fingertips as transport activists and ensure that you benefit.
When presenting my policy speech earlier this year, I made a commitment that we would ensure that the newly-established Provincial Government Fleet Management Services Trading Entity used local manufacturers, when procuring vehicles and to use local service providers when maintaining government vehicles.
An effort has been made to ensure that the procurement of additional 340 vehicles is biased towards the provincially-based auto manufacturers. This will ensure sustainability of jobs for employees in the automotive sector, which has been the backbone of the provincial economy.
The usage of First Auto Maintenance Contract through the National contract RT 46 will monitor the Government Work Distribution to ensure the work is distributed equally to all registered service providers. This will further ensure that local qualifying SMME’s are preferred with a base target of 40% to be achieved.
I would like to encourage SANWIT to encourage members to register as merchants for panel beating, maintenance, breakdown services, auctioneers and car wash.
Use your purchasing power as a women’s organisation to negotiate with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). You can also engage the local vehicle manufactures using your purchasing power for better deals.
For the long term investment, the department through our Human Resource Development Directorate is investigating the feasibility of partnering with institutions of higher learning, particularly the Further Education and Training colleges and the local repairs/maintenance shops across the province in an effort to re-introduce the “Apprenticeship - Artisan” concept as this is one area that has been neglected since the introduction of computerised vehicles.
As the department, we are prepared to walk this path to economic freedom with you using the Integrated Transport Sector B-BBEE Charter, which provides a legal framework for us as the transport sector to practically empower the previously marginalised groups of our society, particularly women.
The Integrated Transport Sector B-BBEE Charter comprises of eight sub-sector charters, namely: Aviation, Bus, Forwarding and Clearing, Maritime Transport and Services Industry, Public Sector, Rail, Road Freight and Taxi.
However, you need to understand that unity of women of the Eastern Cape remains a critical prerequisite for this beneficiation.
In conclusion, let us all work together to ensure that the transport sector plays a leading role in the transformation of our economy through our maximum participation in various sub-sectors and show women of South Africa, Africa and the world what can be achieved, when women are united to contribute in building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society. This is a legacy that we need to build for future generations!
