Speech by the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters, MP at the Annual General Meeting of the Cross Border Road Transport Agency, Pretoria
Chairperson of the Board of Cross Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA);
Chief Executive Officer of C-BRTA;
Board members;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
It is a great honour for me to be part of this AGM in this historic month of September in our country.
The ANC government under the leadership of His Excellency, President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma dedicated this month for South Africans to commemorate and celebrate our heritage, tourism and Public Servants.
Together as public servants, C-BRTA included, we have a responsibility in serving our country with diligence and utmost commitment to move forward as a country.
As South Africa, we are proud to mention that in this 20th year of freedom and democracy, we have managed as a country to be a legitimate member and signatory of the Southern African Development Communities (SADC) protocol on transport, Communications and meteorology and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on road transportation in the Common Customs area pursuant to the Customs Union agreement, realising the importance of adhering to the noble principles and spirit of these documents.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We will continue to support our country's efforts in ensuring a seamless trading environment and regional integration with our neighbouring countries and Africa at large.
As Cross Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) you continue to play a key role in reducing cross border transport constraints that hinder the free flow of people and goods in our borders. We applaud you for that.
ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE
We note that during this quarter under review, the C-BRTA has attained 65% of the planned targets, even though this is an improvement from 48% during the previous financial year 2012/13, there is still room for improvement.
C-BRTA need to improve on its performance as it is noted that there was significance challenges in the deliverance of targets that were set in the Annual Performance Plan and some performance indicators that were set for the year did not meet the Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART).
The Department of Transport will work closely with the C-BRTA in this regard.
Ladies and gentlemen,
One of the C-BRTA targets is to collect and record 100% revenue. The performance is reported at 98%, which implies that the target was slightly not attained.
However, the collection rate needs to be improved.
We are informed that the banking officers are deployed at the courts to improve the collection rate. It is reported that a Service Level Agreement with SITA and the courts on collection of penalty income has been drafted and shared with all relevant stakeholders.
The performance with regard to the implementation of significant audit findings is reported at 88% against a target of 100%.
This implies that the audit recommendations were not all implemented as planned.
The implementation of audit recommendations is very critical to avoid recurrence of such during the financial year and in the next financial years.
The National Development Plan (NDP) clearly states that by 2030, investments in the transport sector will ensure that it serves as a key driver in empowering South Africa and its people.
The transport sector enables the improved access to economic opportunities, social spaces and services by bridging geographic distances affordably, reliably and safely; with greater mobility of people and goods through transport alternatives that support minimised environmental harm.
C-BRTA with its support for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) is meeting the requirements of the NDP as it is our guideline in charting the new path for our country.
However, more work needs to be done in this area to ensure transformation of the industry.
Your mandate is to ease the movement of both passengers and goods across the borders and we have noted that you did not achieve your target that you set out to regulate and enhance the eight (8) corridors for passenger operators.
We applaud you on the achievement of issuing of 80 024 permits against a target of 65 500 which is due to reverting to issuing permits on the 2003 tariffs.
A financial sustainability plan should be developed, given the challenges in permit fees.
The total number of prosecutions is reported at 29 411 against a target of 18 969.
A total of 211 798 inspections were conducted against a target of 162 503.
We recommend that the C-BRTA should report on the key findings from the inspections conducted.
The penalty income generated R35 million against a target of R20. 8 million.
ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY
The "Changing Gears Strategy" projects that were successfully completed are the Industry Partnership Development Plan, Business Case for Corridor and Border Management Reform and the Market Access Regulation Project.
The targets for the Operator Compliance Accreditation Scheme and the Strategic Value Proposition Plan were not achieved as planned.
The attainment of the targets is commendable as the projects form the core of the C-BRTA turn-around strategy.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
We note that C-BRTA is committed to promote sound governance, and subscribes to the principles of corporate governance and the existence of a Charter which regulates how the Board and its sub-committees discharge their responsibilities.
I wish to encourage the Board members to be committed to their roles and attend Board and Committee meetings so that the skills and expertise that were considered when appointing them, should be utilized to add
value to the effectiveness to the Board.
Since the new board has been appointed, it is expected that the board should be evaluated annually and a report be submitted to my office for review.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In 2013/14, the Auditor-General issued an unqualified audit opinion, but attention is drawn to the emphasis of matter which is, the funding of operations of the entity.
Indeed a court action was instituted against the agency challenging the new fee structure from 1 April 2011 by cross-border operators. This legal action may have an impact on the agency's ability to generate the revenue forecasted.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
It is observed that the total revenue decreased by 41.4% to R131,5 million in 2014. Furthermore, in 2014 the deficit is R52, 3 million whilst in 2013 there was a surplus of R29,7 million. Despite the deficit, there is still a stable cashflow of R120,3 million.
Let me close by once again emphasising that the Lesotho / Free State taxi operation challenge has remained a major headache for government for the past sixteen (16) years.
It is therefore crucial that we put shoulders to the wheel and ensure that we find an amicable solution to this problem.
We can no longer allow that this matter to become an albatross around our necks to infinity.
I thank you.
