Presentation of Vote 10: Transport to the Eastern Cape Legislature by Honourable Thandiswa Marawu, MEC for Transport, Roads and Public Works

Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier
Honourable Members
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Let me take this opportunity on behalf of the Eastern Cape Department of Transport to present our policy statement for the 2011/12 financial year together with our Annual Performance plans of the Department and Mayibuye Transport Corporation.

This statement, together with our plans, is informed by:

• The ANC Manifesto 
• The New Growth Path 
• Provincial Strategic Framework 
• Government’s 12 Outcomes 
• Priorities of Provincial Government 
• Programme of Action for 2011/12

We are presenting this statement at a very crucial period in the history of our young democracy, when the nation is gearing up for the 2011 Local Government Election.

As we approach this important period, I would like to remind this House of the words used by the former President of this country, Dr Nelson Mandela, during the President’s Budget Debate in the National Assembly on 18 August 1994, when he said: “At the end of the day, the yardstick that we shall all be judged by is one and one only: and that is, are we, through our endeavours here, creating the basis to better the lives of all South Africans! This is not because the people have some subjective expectations fanned during an election campaign. Neither is it because there is a magic wand that they see in the new government.”

Honourable Speaker, inspired by this thought-provoking self-introspection, we remain determined to deliver on our mandate of providing “quality transport systems for a better life for all”.

However, I must indicate upfront that the department has had serious financial constraints, which made it difficult for us to deliver on some of the commitments that we have made in this House in the ending financial year.

We have learnt our lessons and we are committed to do exactly what the former ANC President Oliver Tambo said on the occasion of his installation as the Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare on 19 October 1991: “South Africa needs to believe in our capacity to overcome our painful history, to begin again and to regard our failures, when they occur, not as finite moments, but as occasions for a new beginning.”

Programme 1: Administration

Honourable Speaker, the Eastern Cape Department of Transport is marking a new beginning in many ways, including how we are going to conduct our business going forward.

Signs of recovery are there for all to see as we have managed to secure an unqualified audit report in the 2009/10 financial year, which was the first since the 2004/05 financial year and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the officials of the Eastern Cape Department of Transport for this achievement.

The department is currently finalising our organogram in order to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to deliver on our mandate. The new organogram is going to be in line with the new National Treasury Budget Structure, which is our guiding framework in terms of resource allocation. The New Budget Structure has led to the reconfiguration and renaming of some of our programmes such as Public Transport and Traffic Management which are now known as Transport Operations and Transport Regulation respectively.

The new organogram proposes 1 285 additional posts, which takes the department’s staff establishment to 4 076 posts, an increase of 31 %, compared to the existing organogram of the department which was approved in 2006. This increase is influenced by the following changes that have occurred in the transportation sector from 2006 to 2010.

• The Department of Public Service and Administration proposed integrated human resources functional structure provides for additional functions or components, which are strategic support Human Resource functions.
• Decentralisation of functions by the Provincial Treasury, such as the internal audit function.
• Directives by the Executive Council.
• Newly proposed functions by the National Department of Transport such as Road Safety Councils
• The growth of the Traffic Inspectorate function owing to increasing demand for drivers licenses as well as registration of motor vehicles.
• The growth of traffic law enforcement function envisaged to be an essential service, which will operate for 24hours per day.
• The growth of provincial transport planning function owing to the rising need for integrated land use and multimodal transport planning.
• The in-sourcing of the Provincial Government Fleet from a private company to be run by the Department of Transport as 01 April 2012. Honourable Members would recall that this arrangement is in line with the concept of the developmental state, which encourages the improvement of the technical capacity of the state so as to encourage the in-sourcing of government operational services.
• The transfer of the scholar transport function from the Department of Education to the Department of Transport as from 01 April 2011 with 53 staff members joining us.
• The growth of the freight, rail and maritime development function.

As we move forward, it has become clear that the improvement of our capacity and the transformation of the transport sector through a “skills revolution” remain critical. Our Maths and Science project continues to demonstrate our commitment as government to effectively transform this sector in the near future. The project is assisting to enhance learner proficiency in mathematics, science and English and helps to bridge the gap between school and university.

In the current financial year, the project continued successfully with 150 learners in the Nelson Mandela Metro, 150 learners in the OR Tambo District, 100 learners in Alice, 150 learners in Buffalo City and 150 learners in Cala.

Of the 200 Grade 12 learners in 2010, a total of 83 learners have managed to meet the requirements to register for transport related studies, specifically civil and mechanical engineering. Those with excellent results were able to get bursaries not only from the department, but from the business sector as well. In this academic year, the department has provided 38 bursaries to Eastern Cape youth to do transport related courses.

The department is forging partnership with Mtha Aviation, a company focusing on careers in aviation, with a particular focus on girl children. Recently, Mtha Aviation has recruited learners nine (9) Eastern Cape youth to be trained by South African Airways and DENEL as aircraft technicians.

In October 2010, two of our bursary holders, Qhamani Mandindi and Sibabalwe Tyu graduated after qualifying as commercial helicopter pilots with instructor ratings. Two more young female trainee pilots are currently studying at 43 Air School in Port Alfred, Malibongwe!

Our internship programme continued to provide work experience opportunities for Eastern Cape unemployed graduates. Out of the 145 unemployed graduates that we recruited, 62 have managed to get employment from various institutions both in government and the private sector. The success of this programme has been acknowledged by the Transport Education and Training Authority, which led the department to receive R2 million to enhance the skills of our unemployed graduates.

In an effort to promote the Constitutional rights of the vulnerable groups, the department embarked on the following projects:

• Promotion of Safety of Children at taxi ranks and reached 650 children. In addition, there were anti-child trafficking campaigns and reached 400 children in the Alfred Nzo, Cacadu, Chris Hani and Amathole.
• Promotion of sign language campaign in taxi ranks
• Promotion of rights of people with disabilities within and outside the department and 300 people were reached in OR Tambo, Cacadu and Amathole. Our wheelchair repair project was established to train and empower 10 disabled people with skills that will make them economically independent. This training has just taken off in all 6 districts.  

Programme 2: Transport operations

Honourable Members, in the next three remaining years of our government term, we have a mandate to ensure that we:

• Create integrated public transport systems 
• Corporatise the taxi industry to improve access for our people, especially the vulnerable groups (disabled and elderly) to safe, reliable and affordable public transport
• Reposition public transport to contribute in rural development as a priority of government in order to improve access to economic opportunities and essential services for our people.  

During the debate of the department’s annual report late last year, Honourable Members made a plea to us to seriously consider the development of a Provincial Integrated Public Transport Master Plan.

Honourable Speaker, I am happy to report that such a plan is going to be developed in the new financial year and I would like to appeal to all relevant role players to participate in this process as this plan will serve as our compass moving forward, especially with regard to future public transport systems planning, funding, infrastructure development and operations. The first step towards this new direction of integrated transport planning will be the restoration of TRANSMEC as a coordinating structure between the province and local government.

As part of our response to the broad mandate of the ANC-led government, the Department managed to roll out a further 38 buses in the Africa's Best 350 Ltd (AB350) subsidised bus passenger transport services project, bringing the number of brand new buses introduced in the rural areas of the former Transkei region to 111 buses.

Between April 2010 and January 2011, AB350 has transported 4 085 692 passengers. This translates to an average of 86.2% passengers per single bus trip and if an average of 25 operating days per month is used, this translates into an average of 13 619 passengers per day in the rural areas where the poorest of the poor benefit from this service. An amount of R56 950 509 was claimed for these services.

For the 2011/12 financial year, an amount of R40.148million has been allocated for these services. From April 2010 to January 2011, Mayibuye Transport Corporation transported 1 500 771 passengers of which approximately 90% could be classified as rural. This is 9.3% higher than the corresponding period in the previous financial year, which can be ascribed to the improvement in the efficiency of the Corporation. A grant-in-aid of R39.209 million was budgeted for this corporation for their day to day operations during the year under review with an additional R5.460 million to refurbish and acquire new buses. As a result, the Corporation has been able to refurbish two buses and 5 new buses were acquired on lease contracts. The rest of the funding was used for depot upgrading.

During the additional appropriation, a further R7 million was allocated for the Corporation with R2.6 million allocated for operational expenses, R2.7 million for a new Electronic Ticket Machine system and the remaining R1.6 million was used to order another bus.

Honourable Speaker, it is important to note that although Mayibuye has a fleet of 62 buses, only 47 are operational due to the age of their fleet. For the 2011/12 financial year an amount of R51,429 million has been allocated as an Operational Grant-in-Aid, while a further R10 million has been allocated for capital expenditure.

With regard to the Interim Contract with Algoa Bus Company, Honourable Members would recall that this company is funded through a conditional grant (Public Transport operations Grant) in terms of the Division of Revenue Act (DORA). Between April 2010 and January 2011, Algoa Bus Company transported 11 296 045 passengers. The DORA allocation of R143,077 million will be fully spent by the end of March 2011.

Algoa Bus Company will form part of the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) for the Nelson Mandela Bay area. During 2010/11 the planning for the IPTS continued and the minibus taxi industry has registered 5 Primary Cooperatives, which can also be contracted for operations under the IPTS.

For the 2011/12 financial year an amount of R166,953 million has been allocated under the Public Transport Operations Grant. This may be seen as a significant increase, but it will also allow for the introduction of a joint venture between Algoa Bus Company and the minibus taxi co-ops to operate the 24 articulated buses that were last operational during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

On that note, Honourable Speaker, it is important to highlight with appreciation that the transportation of our sporting guests during the Soccer World Cup last year went through without hitches. Apart from hailing that as a sign of good planning I also think that due credit should go to the service providers, the Bus and Taxi industry operators. An important spin-off to the relative peace and stability that had returned to the Taxi Industry during the tournament was the establishment of a Bus and Taxi Chamber in the OR Tambo District. That is a move of historical significance and it augurs well with the department’s strategy of integrating key public transport modes in the province.

In the new financial year, the department will allocate R1,5 million to the Taxi Industry with a sole purpose to assist the industry to address most of the challenges that continue to tarnish its name and compromise its integrity. In this regard the taxi leadership should develop a well documented programme of action indicating how this amount shall be expended.

The department will further embark on a vigorous drive to facilitate the roll-out of the modified and legally compliant Light Delivery Vehicle so as to alleviate the plight of our people (especially in the rural areas) who have no options available to them except to make use of illegal “bakkies” in addressing their travelling needs.

As I have indicated earlier on, the Scholar Transport Function is in the process of being transferred from the Department of Education to the Department of Transport. For the 2011/12 financial year, the Department will concentrate on those prioritised rural and farm schools which have been identified by the Department of Education while the Department of Transport prepares a well-defined service to be implemented in 2012/13.

We have established a task team from various components within the department to oversee the smooth transfer of this function. In order to provide for the continuity of the existing scholar transport service, the Department of Transport will enter into an Agency Agreement with the Department of Education to continue rendering the service for a period of three months while the Department of Transport prepares for the take-over. For the 2011/12 financial year an amount of R206 million has been made available for this very important function.

In the State of the Province Address, Premier Noxolo Kiviet pronounced that within two months, tenders would be issued for the renovation of the terminal building of the Mthatha Airport and I would like to assure this House that work is underway to meet that target. We appreciate the R65 million allocation by the Provincial Treasury for this project.
As part of our contribution to strengthening international relations, especially the implementation of the South Africa-Southern Sudan capacitation programme, our aviation training programme has received a boost this month with the commencement of construction of the temporary accommodation at the Bhisho Airport at a cost of R2.9 million.

Honourable Speaker, I have set up a special rail task team to look into the best possible approach in order to get the Kei Rail Project back on track. Discussions are underway with various rail industry role players in order to ensure that our rural people, especially in the eastern part of our province who are unable to access bus or taxi services are able to benefit from the service rendered through Kei Rail operations.

In line with our Back to Rail Strategy, the department has forged a partnership with the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) for the establishment of a Centre for Rail Studies. In ensuring that the centre meets global standards in the provision of skills and qualifications in rail, WSU is working in partnership with the Netherlands-based Delft University.

Presently a module on railway studies has been introduced to students, who are studying for a Diploma in Transport Planning.

Honourable Speaker, air and rail freight operations cannot be complete without the consideration of maritime industry. I have observed the debate about the role of the provincial government and municipalities in maritime activities and because I have consulted on this matter, I am not convinced that as a province with the longest coastal route of 800km we cannot unlock the socio-economic potential that exists in this critical sector of our economy. Flowing from this view the department embarked on a process of developing an integrated provincial maritime plan which will soon be presented to government for adoption. The plan is looking at the legislative framework in the maritime industry, the status quo and the proposed strategic interventions.

Honourable Members, the National Ports Act No. 12 of 2005, chapter 11 Section 81, is requiring the establishment of Ports Consultative Committees, which provincial government should be part of and it is chaired by the National Department of Transport. These committees have been formed for all the three (3) ports in our province and they are meant to advocate all the capital projects in the ports to improve efficiency of our ports.

Our hosting of the World Maritime Day on 21 September 2010 further gave impetus to our strategy of raising awareness about the opportunities that exist in this sector, including business and careers as we also invited three (3) schools to participate namely Gobinamba from Tsomo; Ngwayibanjwa from Mthatha and Enoch Sontonga near King Williams Town.

As part of promoting women participation, our province hosted an all-women crew of the SA Agulhas in Port Elizabeth, who were on a five day voyage from Cape Town to Durban to showcase the ground covered on gender transformation in the maritime industry. About 9 municipalities (Chris Hani DM, O.R. Tambo DM, Intsika Yethu LM, Mbashe LM, Mnquma LM, Nyandeni LM, Port St Johns, Ndlambe LM, Nelson Mandela Bay and business people in each municipality), have been consulted in a form of workshops to introduce maritime activities; roles of the municipalities in the maritime sector and the business opportunities.

In the new financial year, the department is planning to conduct maritime awareness campaigns to 70 high schools in the province and 10 municipalities that will be identified randomly.

About 31 young people of the Eastern Cape were trained for Skipper’s Ticket (licence to drive small boats) category R from the 19 to 21 January 2011, which was an initiative of the national Department of Transport working together with the provincial department. About 5 of them are getting jobs at Unicorn Shipping line in Durban.

We are working on advancing the training to the marketable standards. We are also assisting other organisations, which offer bursaries for maritime studies, to source needy pupils in our rural areas to study maritime subjects at Lawhill High School in Simons Town, Western Cape.

The national Department of Transport has further initiated the South African Maritime Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SAMARCOC), which will be a prominent industry organization which will exist to serve its members and promote their interests in the South African and African Maritime industries and abroad.

The Eastern Cape chapter was established earlier this month and the filling of the structure has been completed and sent to the national Department of Transport to finalise the nominations of the members who will form part of the Eastern Cape structure.

Very soon, we are going to host the official launch of the Chamber and we will invite the Honourable Members in order to get better insight about this sector of our economy.

The Eastern Cape province is further embarking on the initiatives to support the Port of Ngqura to be the transhipment port. This is emanating from two trilateral agreements that have been signed by the South African government with IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) agreement as well as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) agreement.

According to the international trade routes, the Port of Ngqura is strategically positioned as it is in the south to south corridor and that gives it the advantage of being a transhipment hub for the global maritime markets and Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. This port has been proved to be capable of handling the new generation bigger ships (also known as post- Panamax) as required by the transhipment ports. This project has a potential to create thousands of jobs.

Programme 3: Transport regulation

Honourable Speaker, let me first congratulate our Traffic Regulation Chief Directorate for a successful Arrive Alive Campaign during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the festive season; and the successful implementation of the National Rolling Enforcement Plan (NREP). However, road accident statistics are still unacceptably high and we are doing something about that. We will promote 2011 as “The Year of Intensified Road Safety Activities”. This declaration is in line with the United Nation’s “Decade of Action” for Road Safety campaign, which seeks to stabilize and then reduce global road deaths by 2020, especially in developing countries, including South Africa. 

Through NREP, our traffic officers are expected to stop and screen 85 000 vehicles per month and I am happy to announce that between October 2010 and February 2011, a total of 424 605 vehicles were stopped and screened on Eastern Cape roads. For this achievement, credit goes to all Eastern Cape traffic authorities including Provincial and municipal traffic authorities and this is a clear indication that working together we can do more to save lives.

We have allocated 45 new vehicles for our Provincial Traffic Officers in an effort to improve their visibility on our roads. As part of intensifying the implementation of NREP, we have launched “Operation Asihleki” in Mthatha last month. Through this new brand promise or pay-off line (Operation Asihleki) we expect our law enforcement agencies to send a strong warning to road users that we have adopted a zero tolerance approach on our roads. We are not going to smile or laugh with any misbehaving motorist! Furthermore, we will accelerate the rollout of the Alcohol Evidence Centres working together with the South African Breweries and Buffalo City and King Sabata Dalindyebo municipalities. This is in addition to the first centre that we have opened in Port Elizabeth last year in an effort to effectively deal with the ever increasing number of drunk drivers on our roads.

Regarding the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO), an extensive exercise is currently underway to prepare for readiness and to ensure that all the major Municipal and Provincial Traffic authorities are ready for the implementation of AARTO once the announcement is made by the National Minister.

The province is expected to deal with this matter effectively and it should be mentioned that there are also budgetary implications attached to the project. The department will continue enhancing the management of the National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) in the province by ensuring that the relationship between the department and the agency outlets performing the function.

The function was taken over by the South African Post Office Service on 22 September 2005 and a total of 101 outlets were established. The Service Level Agreement was renewed in November 2010 for a further five years. The department will continue with the initiative in order to take the service closer to the public.

In the new financial year, we will establish Registering Authorities in the following areas:

• Sterkspruit (Senqu Municipality)
• Tsolo (Mhlontlo Municipality  

The Electronic Booking System for driving licences was rolled out at all driving licence testing centres in the province meaning that no more manual allocation of dates or recording of appointments will be applicable. The implementation of the booking system will help to curb fraud and corruption, favouritism and nepotism.

Last month, we hosted a successful Anti- Fraud and Corruption summit to combat corruption within our systems in partnership with other stakeholders.

The objectives of the summit were to:

• Assess the prevalence and impact of fraud and corruption to service delivery via NaTIS.
• Explore effective mechanism aimed at combating the occurrence of fraud and corruption within the NaTIS environment.
• Strengthen the internal control measures in the fight against fraud and corruption.
• Examine the challenges facing the system in combating and preventing corruption
• Explore the avenue for promoting professional ethics
• Unite all sectors affected in a common programme of action in all spheres of Government within the Province, Law Enforcement Agencies, Private Sector and Civil Society.  

We have all agreed to work together to combat fraud and corruption in our system.

In order to control the overloading of vehicles, the Province has two weighbridges in Mthatha and Kinkelbos near Port Elizabeth which are placed strategically to cover the N2, N10, R72 and R61 roads. Both weighbridges are operational and statistics are available for operations done in the current financial year.

The Mthatha weighbridge will be relocated and upgraded from the existing site. The department is currently negotiating with the communities and developers regarding a land exchange for this. It must be noted that this project will have substantive budgetary implications for the infrastructure and administrative matters.

The Kinkelbos weighbridge is undergoing upgrading funded by a conditional grant from the National Department of Transport. The department is currently engaged in negotiations to construct another weighbridge in the Chris Hani District near Queenstown. This will ensure that the loading of freight vehicles on the N6 between the Free-State border and East London can be monitored.

Honourable Speaker, road signs are vital for warning and regulating traffic, as well as for assisting motorists in navigating safely to their destinations. Two road signs upgrade contracts have been completed in the current financial year on the R61 between Port St Johns and Magusheni and on the R410 between Queenstown and Qiba near Elliot. Together with the Department of Roads and Public Works we are currently upgrading road signs on the R56 and the R58.

Designs for the upgrade of road signs on the following routes have been completed: R102, R330, R331, R335, R336, R342, R344, R345, R346, R351, R352, and R400. These upgrades are ready for implementation by the Department of Roads and Public Works.

A total of 26 permanent traffic count stations were operational during the 2010/11 financial year as planned. Together with these, approximately 3 600 short-term counts were carried out as part of our programme to know the volumes of traffic using our roads. This will be extended by a further 250 counts in the new financial year.

We have made data counted to date, easily available for the use of the public by releasing in Google Earth format and that information is available on our website. 

We shall conduct road safety audits on 190 km of roads on the R56 between Maclear and KwaZulu-Natal border, on DR08019 between N2 and Ntabankulu and on DR08023 between Flagstaff and Holy Cross.

With regard to road safety education, commitments were made to this House that in the current financial year, the Traffic Safety Unit would embark upon the following:

• 1450 schools and 507 500 learners would be reached through Road Safety Education
• 215 scholar patrols would be provided.
• 7829 adults would be trained in Road Safety Education.
• The introduction of Community Road Safety Councils

However, Honourable Speaker, this unit was able to reach 350,000 learners through scholar projects and had programmes that were extended to 1 000 schools in the Province. The Schools Debate project reached 505 learners and 101 schools participated. Through this project learners were exposed to and trained on road safety topics which empowered them with knowledge and skills that will make them safer road users in future.

It is pleasing to report that Eastern Cape learners made us proud by winning the first position during the National Road Safety Debate Competition held in the Western Cape.

The Eastern Cape Province now has 223 scholar patrols with 238 crossings and 2 734 learners are participating.

The Participatory Educational Technique Project (PET) that was piloted last year to 10 schools has now reached 16 schools and 160 learners have participated. The PET Provincial Team which was made up of ten learners from Focus High School in Matatiele made the province proud by winning the first position during the National PET competition held in Gauteng. They received a cash prize of R30,000 which they said they would utilize it for their school library which will benefit the whole school.

It is worth mentioning that the Department has registered resounding successes in the sphere of Driver Education and Training. In this regard, 3 500 taxi drivers were reached through recruitment compared with 3 101 that were reached in the previous year. A total of 210 taxi drivers were reached compared to 71 drivers in the previous year through theory test, K53 and skills test in conjunction with Toyota Advance Driving Academy.

Mr Tat Hendricks, a taxi driver from the Joe Gqabi District, represented our province at the national competition in Gauteng in November 2010. He became the first runner up and was rewarded with a cash prize of R25, 000.00. This project has assisted a number of taxi drivers to move from being taxi drivers to become taxi owners, thus becoming self employed.

In the heavy vehicle category i.e. trucks and buses, it is pleasing to report in this House that Mr Juliano Hanse (21 years old) and Mr J. Schreiber represented the province in the 2010 Union Internationale Des Chauffeurs Routies( UICR) World Championships, held in Austria. Mr Juliano Hanse made our Province and South Africa proud by winning the first position in category E, which is youth category. Overall, through this project 630 heavy vehicle drivers were trained which we are intending to increase to 790 in the new financial year.

In preparation for 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, 10 199 adults were reached through Road Safety Awareness Campaigns which included the Drink Responsibly and Pedestrian Safety campaigns. This programme involved various stakeholders such as South African Breweries, the Liquor Board, Tavern owners and Religious fraternity.

Two weeks ago, we held the inauguration of our Community Road Safety Councils (CRSCs) in East London as part of a National Programme involving a variety of stakeholders in Road Safety activities.

This has positioned the Eastern Cape among the first three provinces that have successfully launched the programme. The final draft Constitution and Local Road Safety Councils are in place.

Working together with the CRSCs, we will embark upon the following activities:

• 510 000 learners will be reached through Road Safety Education.
• 25,300 adults will be trained on Road Safety Education.
• 40 training sessions on Road Safety Education will be conducted to the Community Road Safety Councils assisted by the Road Traffic Management Corporation.  

Programme 4: Community-Based Transportation

The Community Based Transportation Programme contributes to the development and improvement of lives of the people, especially the rural poor, in line with the three priorities drawn from the African National Congress’ Manifesto; namely

• Rural development
• Speeding up growth and transforming the economy to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods and
• Building cohesive, caring and sustainable communities.  

Through its overall objective; namely to manage the implementation of programmes and strategies that lead to the development and empowerment of communities, which includes management and co-ordination of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) within the Department, the Programme will engage in the following interventions.

• Creation and maintenance of Public Resting places along R61, N2 and N6.
• Construction and maintenance of non-motorised infrastructure, which include bicycle pathways and parking bays at schools. Each district will be allocated two pathways and bicycle parking bays at the identified schools.
• Construction of pedestrian walkways in Alfred Nzo and Joe Gqabi districts.
• Routine maintenance of Bisho and Mthatha airports
• Maintenance on the Kei Rail project. 

Honourable Speaker the above projects will create 850 job opportunities of which some are sustainable in the sense that they are for maintenance and therefore are continuous, and will include 24 training and empowerment sessions on technical related project training and life skills training for people who are employed in our projects. For implementation of these projects the Department allocated R23 million.

Through the innovation and empowerment sub-programme, we will ensure transportation sector development and meaningful stakeholder empowerment with a primary focus on the following:

• Completion of Jubilee Square Taxi Rank in Mthatha.
• Increase the number of road rangers to 450
• District Transport Forums – ensure that they are fully functional, empowered to participate in service delivery planning and implementation through Integrated Transport Plans and during project implementation, and serve in Project Steering Committees. 

The programme has further set aside a budget of R18 million to ensure that projects and activities planned under Innovation and Empowerment sub-programme are achieved.

The EPWP Reporting, Coordination and Monitoring sub-programme will spearhead the creation of supportive and enabling environment for the implementation of community supported transportation service delivery with a budget of R9 million.

Of critical importance Honourable Speaker is that this Sub-programme will conduct a re-orientation of other Programmes’ budgets within the department to ensure that their expenditure generates maximum work opportunities for the poorest of the poor in our province. This will be done through the application of EPWP principles and guidelines.

For 2011/12 the Community-Based Transportation Programme aims to achieve more labour intensive job creation as well as ensuring that the Department complies with EPWP principles with regards to project implementation.

In conclusion, Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members, I present the Policy Speech of the Department of Transport and the Annual Performance Plans and Operational Plans of the Department and Mayibuye Transport Corporation.

These documents serve as the yardstick that we shall be judged by as we endeavour to create a better life for the people of the Eastern Cape and South Africa.

I thank you.

Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government