Address by the Honourable Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi (MP), on the occasion of the budget vote 40 debate, in Parliament, Cape Town
Honourable House Chairperson
Honourable Minister of Transport, Mr Fikile Mbalula
Honourable Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee on Transport
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable Members of Parliament
MECs present
Director-General of Transport Mr. Alec Moemi and DDGs present
Chairpersons, Chief Executive Officers and Board Members of Transport SOEs and Entities
Distinguished guests Fellow South Africans
Introduction
As we table this 2021/22 budget we are reminded of Mme Charlotte Maxeke’s undying commitment to free her people from that which demeaned their dignity as people and which sought to exclude and dehumanise and she stood firmly for the liberation of women; today many women occupy the seats of this House as it is also in our SOEs.
But, like Charles Dickens’s world of paradoxes, his world of persistent contradictions, we too are hit by a spectacle of major contradictions in our age; a spectacle of the light shone by technological and other progress and the dark of the deepening poverty and the unrelenting pandemic we face.
However as government we remain resolute in our bid to beat the pandemic and to better the lives of South Africans through our policies and programmes that employ transformative mechanisms to realise the desired changes in economy and society.
The role of the transport sector as an enabler
These mechanism form the vast capacity of a transport sector which is meant to better the lives of all especially the previously disadvantaged persons, including persons with disabilities who continue to find economic and social exclusion.
Legislative, Regulatory and Policy Framework
Honourable members,
In line with the priorities of the 6th Administration focus areas of this MTSF the Department is reviewing policies to ensure we effectively tackle the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment to further promote or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination.
A case in point is our recently reviewed White Paper on National Transport Policy, 1996 and the Review of Aviation Policy recently launched by the Department through a Summit involving relevant stakeholders. Both aim to fast track sector transformation.
We also formulate legislative pieces committing ourselves to transform and grow the transport sector towards efficiencies, reduce the costs of doing business and indeed ease entry of those excluded and to that effect 12 Bills are now before parliament. Some Bills are on the reprioritized legislative programme for 2020/21 while one Bill is still a work in progress
Social and Economic Transformation through the Transport Sector:
Universal Access
It is our quest to satisfy the constitutional principle of equality as directed by the struggles of Mme Maxeke and other icons of her time that compels us all as public and civil servants to apply the dictates of our mandate in manners that are necessarily universalistic in their application.
This speaks to public infrastructure build which must adhere to design that enables safe and universal access to services and facilities especially in public transport.
Transport legislation, read with the Consumer Protection Act and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, provides a powerful mechanism to reform transport services so that they become passenger-focused, and universally accessible.
In fact the Batho Pele Service Charter on access demands that “All citizens have equal access to the services to which they are entitled”.
We have already established a partnership with the Office of the Deputy Minister of WYPD and have since the last financial year initiated programmes to address challenges of vulnerable groups in the sector especially in public transport spaces.
This includes introducing effective measures to protect women and girls against sexual harassment, gender based violence and femicide in the public transport sphere.
The Gender, Disability, Youth and Children’s Unit of the Department remains an important conduit for the mainstreaming of issues affecting vulnerable groups in the sector.
We also continue to strengthen women run business formations, evidence of which is the re-launch of a SANWIT Chapter in the Northern Cape and two more Chapters which will be launched post this budget vote.
Regarding universal access, we are currently finalising a complaints mechanism that will ensure we monitor the complaints of persons with disabilities and dispense the necessary actions in resolution of those challenges.
Chairperson,
To this extent the Minister of Transport committed us all to the transformational agenda of the sector with the following objectives, to:
- Transform the construction, engineering, aviation, maritime sectors in line with national transformation imperatives, in a manner that broadens economic participation, economic growth and job creation and to
- Contribute efforts towards broad-based black economic empowerment, skills development and the growth of small, medium, macro enterprises and cooperatives, with a particular bias towards township, dorpie and rural economies. The Department has thus adopted a set of priority focus areas among others for this MTSF linked to the NDP to build a strong and inclusive economy and adopted Apex Priority of government to focus on job creation and economic transformation.
Skills Development
We also believe these transformation objectives could be best realised by preparing young people for work and making them more employable through the provision of quality education, skills development and building a capable, ethical and professional cohort in the public service when such skills are absorbed.
The Department has had the following programmes that relate to the development of skills in the sector: Internship with 1458 beneficiaries retaining 50 interns till 2022 and a programme including Learnerships befitting 2816 unemployed youth with 180 various types of learnerships for the employed while 1015 learners were enrolled for various apprenticeships within the sector where 732 were immediately absorbed.
We report however that the Department-managed bursary programme and sponsorship by various SETAs has further enabled the skills development programme to improve productivity and service delivery during the 2020/21 financial year.
The Department has also managed to send 2 staff members for placement in foreign universities to acquire critical skills through scholarships.
A total of 25195 employees were trained on various skills programmes and various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) sponsored training costs.
This is in addition to the provision of 3715 bursaries awarded to unemployed youth pursuing transport studies in various institutions of higher learning and employees serving across Public Entities, Provincial Departments of Transport and the National Department of Transport. The DoT will continue to manage 160 bursaries of its staff that are continuing with their studies.
Partnerships:
The Department of Transport is currently reviewing its Memorandum of Agreements with 13 Universities that are in partnership with to align the skills provision with the priorities of the 6th Government Administration as well as to address the current and emerging skills needs in the sector.
In this financial year we will continue to search for and recruit for scarce skills development and provide capacity development services to 6 TVET colleges offering transport qualifications.
Outreach programmes on skills and career opportunities
Given the lessons learned from our management of the pandemic and the need for remote learning resources the Department has developed the following towards outreach and to mitigate challenges of physical outreach:
- A transport career guidance outreach video which will be completed in this finacial year and an ● Online Career Booklet, which has already been installed on our website. Aviation Sector transformation: aviation skills development
Transformation of the aviation sector continues at a very slow pace benefitting less than 20% of PDIs in critical areas such aeronautical engineering, pilot training and other critical technical areas.
National Civil Aviation Transformation Strategy (NCATS).
In spite of the afore-going context, one of the strides that the Department is making is to review the draft National Civil Aviation Transformation Strategy (NCATS) in this financial year to focus on priorities for this MTSF.
Actions in this financial year to further transform the aviation sector will include finalising a process in partnership with the DBE to develop a draft aviation curriculum. This is in addition to completing phase 2 of processes to finalise our business case for the establishment of a government owned aviation academy.
Aviation Safety and Security
SACAA
As regards aviation safety and following from the Minister’s directive to reduce accidents in general aviation by 50% in this term, it is impressive to note that the SACAA is already implementing a five-year General Aviation Safety Strategy towards this goal and have already noted positive results and we are proud to keep our record of 0% accidents in scheduled commercial flights.
It is in addition commendable that the ATNS through its work keeps us comforted, knowing that our skies are kept safe. Our aviation entities have however been the hardest hit in our sector over the period of the onslaught of the COVID pandemic and associated lockdowns due to the grounding of flights and closure of borders.
Railway Safety
To the extent that railway safety is a major concern for the Department and because current legislation is not adequate for the protection of persons as pointed out in the State of Safety Report delivered to this very House.
The Railway Safety Bill has now been referred to the Portfolio Committee on Transport for processing and Select Committee on Transport, Public Service and Administration, Public Works and Infrastructure, for information.
The Railway Safety Bill, 2021 ("Bill") seeks among others to improve the safety of passengers and freight and to repeal the National Railway Safety Regulator Act, 2002 (Act No. 16 of 2002) ("NRSR Act"). The Department has published the Draft National Railway Safety Regulations in the government gazette for comments ahead of implementation in this financial year.
We believe the budget as presented by the Minister will go a long towards responding to our areas for this financial and will better foundations for achievements over the term.
It is our solemn wish that this House supports this budget
Thank you
